Archive for May, 2005

Its been a little while since I did one of these and I apologize. Not working has kept me somewhat busy, too bad most of what has kept me preoccupied isn’t paying the bills. I wish I could say I was off galavanting around the globe, tracking down more records for the vault and to write about, but the truth is I’m broke so there isn’t any new vault additions in my immediate future.

Well, that aside lets get back to the topic at hand and that is the many flavors of the Butthole Surfers Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis EP. This one had quite a few variations, most in the way of the “pre-release” edition on various colors of vinyl.

Before it was officially released, Touch and Go put out a “pre-release” edition that came in a plain green sleeve with a die cut hole in the middle, and a sticker attached to it indicating what the record was. I would assume that these were promos as I never recall seeing these for sale new at a store, and I spent a great deal of my time back then visiting record stores and buying records every week after cashing my paycheck. This came on the following colors:

Blue vinyl,

An interesting bit of complete record nerd trivia is that the first pressing of the regular Touch and Go release has the title to the song “Comb” omitted from the label.


It was corrected in the future pressings. I remember writing to Touch and Go when the record came out asking what the song was called since it wasn’t listed anywhere on the cover or label and they told me it was an error and what the song was called (I didn’t own any of the “pre-release” versions at the time as back then I hadn’t seen one yet).

The record, just like the album that came before it, Another Man’s Sac was licensed to Fundamental Music for overseas and like the aforementioned album, it had a totally different cover.

So there you have it, every variation of this fine record known to man sans the test pressing (which I do not own).

The Defoliants - Hang Ten 7″ (1987 Pravda Records)

I remember seeing The Defoliants name on plenty of flyers around the city, they would be one of the opening bands for various shows in town. I finally got to see them when they opened up for Naked Raygun sometime around 1987. I forget where, but I am pretty sure it was at the Riviera. I thought they were very entertaining and it was soon after that I picked up their 7″, which had just come out and was their only record at the time.

Sadly, many years ago, in what I like to refer to as “the great depression” I wasn’t working for a long time, was broke, and ended up selling a bunch of records to make some much needed money. It stands as the biggest mistake of my life and it took me a long time to replace all those records a few years later, and a couple I still haven’t been able to replace (The Misfits - Bullet 7″ on black vinyl being the biggest culprit). This Defoliants 7″ was something I always wanted to replace, and then had trouble finding again. It wasn’t that the record is super rare, I passed up a few here and there, mostly because they were being pimped by scumbags like Zeroboys78 on ebay, who I wouldn’t buy a record from just on principle.

Well, finally, thanks to my pal Greg Dunlap who located a copy for me, I am happy to report the record is back in The Punk Vault, and I am happy to have replaced it. Greg also happened to know someone who played in the band, a gentleman by the name of Rob Warmowski, who was kind enough to share The Defoliants history that he put together.

The Defoliants
“Not unlike Agent Orange crashing headlong into Naked Raygun” - MRR, 4/85

A trio formed in Chicago in 1984 by Mather high school chums Rob Warmowski (bass, vocals) and Jeff “BBQ” Cohn (drums), adding Chuck Uchida on guitar soon after. The Defoliants were influenced by hardcore punk, surf/garage music and pop culture. We were known for a strong live show and a nerdy sense of humor, belting out a speedy hybrid of alien punk-pop mated with surfy instrumentals. Appearing often with Chicago punk mainstays such as Naked Raygun and The Effigies, our songs and sound struck a (reverby) chord with disaffected loners, rock and roll essentialists, hardcore kids and others found in the under attended 1980s Chicago punk scene. Our finest moment may have been opening for Fugazi’s Chicago debut at Club Dreamerz.

We released one cassette, one 7″(”Hang Ten”, Pravda, 1988) and one LP (”Grrr”, 1989 Angry Fish) in five years together, making possibly 40 songs.

We appeared on a WNUR Northwestern University radio compilation. We recorded an LP with the legendary Iain Burgess (Black Box Studios) engineering. It was released by West Berlin record label Angry Fish.

We wrote a TV commercial soundtrack for a Schwinn BMX bicycle. We had a song in one movie “The Borrower” starring Rae Dawn Chong. We started recording a second LP in Chicago with Burgess in 1989. That year, we toured the toilets of Europe. We broke up in 1990 without completing the second LP.

Rob is now recording as the San Andreas Fault www.thesanandreasfault.com
Chuck Uchida is now in a group called The Sonnets. Jeff was in The Crown Royals (Estrus).

Defoliants Discography

Cassette: “NOW How Much Would You Pay For It?”
Recorded at SotoSound Studios - 2 track live, Evanston, IL 1985

Bad Day At The Beach
I Wish You Were Fiction
Cold Start 64738
Came/Saw/Conquered
Don’t Eat The Dieffenbacchia
Rectal Inferno
Code White
Can’t Lose
Speed Racer
Final Notice Prior To Disconnection
Wild, Wild World of Animals
Up Against The Mall
(and others, sorry I’m blanking)

Hang Ten 7″ EP
Pravda, 1987
Recorded 8-track at Head Studios, Chicago 1986

Mass
Whitecap
The Guy Who Got Mad
Mr. Spy

Grrr LP
Angry Fish, 1989 (Germany)
Recorded 1988 24-track at Chicago Recording Company w/Iain Burgess

Bad Day At The Beach
Steakhouse
I Wish You Were Fiction
West Bank
Quinn Martin
Speed Racer
Safety Town
Rooked
Wild, Wild World Of Animals
The Guy Who Got Mad
Jack The Ripper
Rectal Inferno
Lake Effect

Hog Butcher To The World (Mad Queen / WNUR LP) 1988?

The End

I never owned the LP but it is something I’m in need of if anyone out there might have one. I actually wasn’t aware they had released one until fairly recently!

Thanks Rob for the great info, and thanks Greg for your aid in replacing something in The Vault that was sorely missed.

Listen to “Mr. Spy” from the record

In an effort to use up the sleeves I have left, I am pressing 100 copies of the Government Issue - GI’s First Demo 7″ on green vinyl. I sent off the order today and they should be here and ready to go in probably 3 weeks. I’ll have the ordering info when they are ready for those of you who may be interested.

Also for those that may have missed out on them, I received 11 copies of the JFA/Faction back from a distributor that I won’t be using again and they are available while supplies last in the Spontaneous Combustion mailorder. They all appear to be on gray vinyl.

Negative Element - Yes We Have No Bananas 7″ (1983 Version Sound)

Note: I know what you are thinking, “Wait a minute, this is a rerun!” Well, it is really more of an update as I am appending this original post with new material and changing the date on it to be current. Since this was originally posted I have received new information which will be added at the end. Barry Stepe emailed me and contributed some Negative Element history to share with the readers of this site.

In the early 80’s era of punk rock, while the “big” punk bands of Chicago like Naked Raygun, Articles of Faith, The Effigies, and Big Black were leaving their mark and getting noticed, there was also a slew of really good bands from the Chicago suburbs who were a part of the same scene and playing the same shows. Negative Element was among the first of the Du Page County punk bands.

Negative Element were one of the many bands that were formed by the infamous Steppe brothers. There was a bunch of those Steppe boys: Barry, Chopper, and another one who’s name escapes me now. There was a really great story on them in an issue of Rocktober from a year or two ago that also included a CD full of their various bands music. They teamed up with a fellow named Tom, and a young punk from Downers Grove named Keith Lyons, who became their drummer. Keith is a friend of mine, we met in high school when he was in a band called Happy Toons (who will be featured in a future selection from the vault).

The band were pretty active, and played shows in the city with lots of bigger bands such as Articles of Faith (which I actually have footage of that Keith sent me and will be posted on the Spontaneous Combustion site someday in the near future). I’m sure they recorded a demo tape, but if so I have never seen one, and then they did this record.

Version Sound was a very short lived Midwest record label who only put out a few singles and a couple tape compilations, but whose catalog was spotless, and now considered classic. In 1983 they released this 7″ EP by Negative Element that had 8 songs. The group played hardcore music with a good sense of humor and would also touch on some actual serious topics as well. The record is about half and half in the split between funny and serious songs, and all 8 of them are great. I think they pressed 1000 of them, but I’m not quite sure. I do remember late in my high school career being given the last 8 copies that anyone had, which I sold and traded away to the younger punks at my school. The record came with a lyric sheet and a Negative Element sticker.

As to where they are now? The Steppe brothers are still alive and kicking, though I’m not sure they are playing in any bands right now. They did form a band in the late 80s called Naked Hippy and released an album. Keith now lives in China, and I am not sure about Tom. If anyone from the band stumbles across this and wants to chime in with their own story about the band, please do (are you reading this Keith?).

And now here is Barry’s submission of Negative Element history.

Negative Element’s first actual recording was one cut on the “Meathouse” compilation on Version Sound (from Ohio). They appeared with Battalion of Saints, JFA, Minutemen, Red Scare, Rights of the Accused and many others. Their song “National Socialism” featured original singer, Sparky and is a pretty good representation of their early sound.

Bob Moore, owner of Version Sound, claimed he put the song on the compilation only because he liked Chopper’s bass licks on the song so much. Their lyric sheet was censored by Moore’s dad who was a big Ronald Reagan fan during this very political time of labeling right-wingers with a swastika. The compilation is extremely rare to find but features many of the acts that would later release recordings on Version Sound.

Negative Element was very influenced by the hardcore beach scene like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, etc. but also were listening a lot to skinhead favorites like the Cockney Rejects, 4 Skins and Blitz. Keith Lyons, the drummer, was very influenced by ’77 era punk bands and the band struggled constantly with him to try play faster. During this time, they recorded a full-length video but it was recorded over by mistake by Keith showing him and his friends skating their half pipe. This historic tape was lost forever….

The success of “Meathouse” lead to a record deal with Version Sound and the replacement of Sparky with Tom Faulkner on vocals. The band only got goofier from here, keeping their skinhead look, but acting like a bunch of kids live on stage, which of course they were. Chopper was only about 14 and the rest weren’t much older.

The went to a studio in Elgin, Illinois to record their “Yes, We Have No Bananas” EP with Version Sound. They had recorded the whole single, when the hippy studio tech exclaimed, “Dude, I forgot to plug the cords in.” Keith’s drums were falling about and Steve Stepe (from Rights of the Accused) had to hold Keith’s snare during the entire recording. Barry AKA Rubberneck, played a cheap, pawn shop guitar which sucked and a amp which sucked even worse. The whole recording cost under a $100 dollars and didn’t really capture their sound that well. Of course, Barry had to go back in the studio and remix the tracks, which screwed up the sound every more. A couple of the original tracks recently appeared on the Rocktober Compilation CD.

There were only 1,000 copies of “Yes, We have no Bananas” printed and a couple hundred were distributed in Italy by a European distributor (probably Rough Trade). The record was picked up by some major distributors in the United States and sold pretty well. They began playing out a lot in Chicago with some major acts including the Dead Kennedys, Fang, Minor Threat, J.F.A. and many others. Fate played a part once again as their only PA recorded live full-length concert was recorded over, this time by Chopper by mistake. Articles of Faith invited them to Minneapolis to open for the Replacements but they refused on account of it being a “school night.“ .

During this time, Articles of Faith approached them to record several tracks to appear for a Chicago Hardcore compilation that was never released. They recorded “Shouts of Rebellion” and two other Negative Element classics. The group had a blast in the studio and the sound was probably the best representation of the group’s sound. The recording was never released and no one has it heard it since.

The group planned to release another single on their own label, “Negative Element’s Very Own Record Label and No One Else Can Be on Here Except Us, So There!, Inc,” but soon broke up when the half the band moved to Peoria, Illinois.

To be continued…

Listen to “Anti Pac Man” from the EP (right click and “save target as…”)

Some Negative Element related links:
The story on the acquisition of the test pressing to this single

The story on the acquisition to the hand colored sleeve variant

Public Enemy
It Takes a Nation. The First London Invasion 1987 - DVD
Music Video Distributors

Many of you may not know this but I am a fan of a good handful of early rap music. Around 1987 when all these youth crew bands were turning punk fans into the jocks the rebelled against years earlier, I was branching out and discovering other genres of music like industrial and rap. Public Enemy (and especially Run DMC) were exciting bands to me, creating a style of music I had never heard before. The early rap scene had a few things in common to punk rock as it was a new form of music that wasn’t readily accepted by mainstream America, especially in middle class white suburbia.

At their peak, Public Enemy were a force to be reckoned with. Not content to just sing about themselves and how they were the best rappers on their block (though their early material does cover some of that standard territory), Public Enemy had a message and wanted to shake things up and make people think. Their lyrics were thought provoking, and encouraged people to embrace their heritage, and stand up and make a difference.

The band also had a unique, militaristic visual to their stage show with Professor Griff and the S1W’s (Security of the First World) flaking the stage, marching around in their camouflage Military outfits, it was quite the spectacle that couldn’t help but command your attention. Chuck D was the prophet, spewing forth his words of wisdom trying to wake people up and Flavor Flav was there to encourage him, but also not let him forget to have fun at the same time. It was a unique dynamic of clown and commander that has never been duplicated.

This video was originally released in the late 1980s on VHS and has been out of print and near forgotten until now with this DVD reissue. It was shot on the big Def Jam tour in 1987 that also had featured LL Cool J. Erik B and Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and others. The visual quality is that of a VHS tape, it doesn’t appear to have been restored at all and perhaps the tapes weren’t in the best shape. The picture is a bit dark and not the sharpest, but it is still decent. The audio comes in three flavors: stereo, 5.1 surround, and a commentary track. The stereo track sounded the best in this case as the surround mode just ended up sounding a little echoey, though it was louder. The commentary track was pretty cool and was done recently by Chuck D, so you got his perspective of how things were back then. The audio is of average quality, not that of CD quality. This thing must have been a low budget at the time, or done on inferior equipment as the overall quality is not up to today’s standards, and while this was done 18 years ago, there was ample technology at the time to have made it sound and look a bit better than it does.

The biggest negative of this, and this isn’t limited to only this band or time period, is more often than not, a “live performance” of a rap band equates to the band singing over their records pretty much verbatim. So you hear the music and pre-recorded vocals in the background, while there is live singing over it. As someone who grew up going to shows where everything is 100 percent live, it is kind of a letdown as it is supposed to be a live show, but it isn’t really live, its more of a performance done over a LP playing in the background. The performance was high energy though and the crowd seemed to be really into it. These gripes aside, it is a nice look back at Public Enemy at their prime.

The DVD features some bonus footage that was a lot more recent of the band playing live (and really playing!) in Australia that looks and sounds excellent. There is a photo gallery of some great vintage photos and there is a bonus audio CD that features the concert plus some extra remixes. While the quality of the concert is obviously the exact same as on the DVD, the remixes are a very nice bonus, and I didn’t own any of them previously on any format in my collection.

Overall this DVD isn’t bad, but really only mandatory for a hardcore fan or someone who is curious to see how things were nearly two decades ago. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone who isn’t already a big fan as it isn’t the best way to be introduced to the band’s music. As a long-time fan of Public Enemy, I was glad to see this was made available again though, with a few neat extras.

Buy the DVD
Public Enemy offical website

The Execute - Criminal Flowers 7″ (1984 Hit Parade Records)

I’m kind of breaking tradition here as I am not covering a band from North America, which is the main scope of my record collecting/punk rock love. This time we are going to the other side of the globe, to a place where giant monsters roam free and my hero Godzilla hangs out at. Japan.

Aside from some really cool electronics, Japan also produced a handful of great hardcore bands and it didn’t matter if they weren’t singing in English, they kicked ass all the same. The Execute is my favorite of all the limited amount of Japanese hardcore I’ve heard. I first came to hear of them thanks to Pushead including them on the amazing (and now classic and shamefully out of print) Cleanse the Bacteria compilation. They had a live song on there called “Slash” that blew me away. I put it on every mix tape I ever made for myself back then for walkman listening on the bus to school. I wanted to find more by them, but since they weren’t from around here, and didn’t have very good distribution over on these shores, it would be years, and trades before I ever accomplished that task. The only other US release they were on was the split 12″ they had on Pushead’s label with Inferno.

There was an address to write the band on the Cleanse the Bacteria compilation. I am pretty sure I sent them a letter, but since I was too dumb to know what an IRC was (no, not the internet chat gimmick, I mean International Reply Coupon), I never got a response. I would discover much later that they had a handful of singles, one flexi (which I STILL need!), and a 12″ out during their hardcore era (the 12″ is what ended up being their side of the aforementioned split 12″, it was its own EP in Japan called Blunt Sleazy).

The band started around 1981 or so and lasted until around 1989. Somewhere along the line, two of the original members, Baki and Baby, left The Execute to start their own band, Gastunk. The legend has it they did not agree with founding member Lemmy Yamada about the direction of the band, and his desire to change the sound to be more like later TSOL or Samhain. Gastunk picked up right where The Execute had left off in regards to hardcore, but ironically they’d quickly change their sound too to be more rock, while The Execute had become more of a goth type band.

Lemmy forged on with new members and put out an album called The Antagonistic Shadow in 1988 which showed this new sound, and you’d be hard pressed to guess it was the same band that was responsible for such great hardcore records a few years prior. It wasn’t long after that when he must have called it quits as it was the last anyone heard of The Execute.

All the early works at one time were collected onto a LP titled Save Your Money in 1988, but sadly that has been out of print for longer than the band has been defunct. That album was bootlegged recently, retitled Spend Your Money and sadly that is the only way anyone these days can hear any of their music.

As always if you have any additional information, or were a member of The Execute, please get in touch.

Listen to “Slash” from the record