Mondo Topless is a tried and true garage band formed in 1992 in Philadelphia, that took their name from the 1966 Russ Meyers film of the same name.
This is their first demo tape called Squish Squish. Making up the band at this time was Sam Steinig – vocals, organ, / Rick Halter – guitar / Juliette Watts – bass / Bob Dicks – bass / Eddie Beinlich – drums. Check out their beginnings here then listen to their covers album on Get Hips’ bandcamp. I added some scans of reviews and other press on them click here to see it.
Thanks for sending this to me Brett Noise Addiction II
The mid 90’s during the early days of Ken when they were an all girl band with a guy singer. It was always good to see a Ken show (and still is) the band were having fun and the audience were all totally loving it and having a great time. It simply was (and always will be) a good time. This lineup of Ken was Marc Beck (Revelogic, Heroics, Vick Logic) was the singer, with the two current members of the Ken – Lauren on guitar and Marina on Bass and two ex-members Judith also on guitar and Toni on Drums. For newer Ken go see their bandcamp releases below or Facebook Page
Another fun mid 90s Philly band. They played all the Philly venues of the time Frienz Tavern, old Boot & saddle, Clark Park, Khyber, etc. I don’t have as many flyers for 90s bands as I do for 80s put as I find any I will add them to the post. Mel’s RockPile was Matt Pond (Matt Pond PA) – Vocals& Guitar, Paul Hazlet (Blue, Scab Cadillac)- Drums, Tracy Stanton (ex 700 club owner) – Bass and J.D. Frochlich – Guitar. They released 2 & 7 inches that are included in this post. The picture is by Toni Farina (stolen from her FB I hope you don’t mind Toni)
Added 2 more demo tapes (that I don’t know the real names of) – Thanks Jackie
Tibetan Bowlers tape from 1991 (one song (You You) was on the Scrabble comp) Wilbo Wright – bass Mitch Nur – Reeds & Perscussion Cedric Jensen – Drums Joe Z – Guitar Thanks for the tape Mr Lux
I know that I’ve seen Doctor at Tree many times in the late 80’s early 90s, but I don’t have a lot of info on the band (updated see below Thanks Cheshire) – I do know that some of the members of the band where in 5 Story Fall before this band and that Cheshire from Stinking Lizaveta was also in the band. They played a lot with Scram and listening to the tapes I can see why. Note: I’ve added a Live on WKDU tape to this post from Jackie’s show on 10/25/88.
Thanks for the tapes Jackie & Diego
The cassette cover is an example of the late great Rob Boyes’ artistic talent. He would spend hours in the basement of our West Philly group house at 4525 Larchwood, perfecting screen prints for t-shirts and covers to arrive at a finished product he deemed, “festive”. He also played a mean fretless electric bass, wrote all our lyrics and sang.
I played traps in this band and sang some back vocs for the record. A kid named Josh sat in on timbale and god knows who was playing cowbell. Might have been joined by Craig Heim, drummer for SCRAM!, on conga. Tabla….hm..yep. on I Know Where Your House Is, played by Dan Malamed, I think. David Thrower was our KILLIN’ guitar player. He is the father of two and works in the hospital system in Philadelphia. His kid Allison, came up through School of Rock Philly and also shreds. I remember all the shows displayed in the posters. These are the shows I’m thinking of whenever I try to illustrate the eclectic…modern jargon alert!!:: inclusive vibe in the Philly punk scene of that time. Bills were rarely drawn on strict stylistic lines or limited by the dogma of group identities cemented through musical taste. Metal played with punk played with reggae played with thrash played with afro-pop…prog…..speed metal…grind core….blablablabla…. funk….singer..toasters…poets…painters… freaks and weirdos and nobody thought anything of it.
Rob Boyes died of AIDS in August, 1992, age 30.
– Cheshire Agusta
This post was originally on Noise Addiction blog – I have re-posted it (with a few changes) – Check out more Noise Addiction posts at Noise Addiction 2
Kremlin Korps were around for about 1 years – 1983-1984 – and released one 7″ ep in that time. When they split 3 members formed Homo Picnic. The More Fiends were a very unique sounding band that started in 1985. They released two albums, are the only Philly band to record a John Peel Session and one of the few Philly bands to tour Europe. This early live show is with the original line up – guitar/slide guitar/drums/sax – and they have a more No Wave sound which is much different than the more Punky sound they are known for. This line up never released anything but apparently they did record some demos. Ruin need no intro. They were the best band to ever come out of Philly. On this show they played for almost 90 straight minutes. Seeds Of Terror existed from 1982 to 1984 and only had two songs on the Get Off My Back Philly Hardcore comp. though they did record a full albums worth of stuff. All I have is this one song which is about the Philly DJ Lee Paris.
This is John Zorn’s infamous turn-on-a-dime band. Although they can play any style of music, the majority of their songs are noisy and complex. At any moment, a beautiful melody can degenerate into a hurricane of white noise — and then suddenly switch to something else. They’ve taken everything aggressive about jazz and heavy metal, blended it together, and tightened it. They look like a rock band: drums, electric guitar, bass, keyboards, and saxophone.
On February 06, 1989 they played as part of the New Music at Annenberg Center series in Philadelphia. I remember it being funny that the stuffy Annenberg part of the audience made it through the early instrumentals but when Yamatsuka Eye from the Boredoms came out and starting his screaming vocals they couldn’t take it and headed for the doors.
Naked City is Bass – Fred Frith Drums – Joey Baron Guitar – Bill Frisell Keyboards – Wayne Horvitz Saxophone [Alto] – John Zorn Vocals – Yamatsuka Eye
Urinal Cake is Tom Miller – bass, Phil Schaeffer – guitar, Chris Collins – Drums and vocals, Chad Guilden – vocal stylist. They were originally active 1991-1997. They had their first reunion gig Jan. 25,2020 (23 years later). “We came out at a time in Kutztown, Pa that had a vibrant scene drawing bands locally and beyond. Happy and excited to be back spreading infectious rock n roll.”
For the Punks of Beer Tour – Urinal Cake are playing with is Big Green Limousine who we did gigs with in the 90’s turns out one of those guys works for Sly Fox (Tom works for Stoudts) and he didn’t know it until he saw a picture. Stoudts and Sly Fox just did a collaboration Black Lager (If you have seen the can art very similar to a certain band from CA that has bars hence the covers.) so the gig at Johnny Brendas (Wednesday, February 19, 2020) is that union along with breweries. Big Thanks to Laris for the replacement tape deck (mine is now broken) If you are in Philly keep a look out for his DJ days called Monday Is Tomorrow
The George Factor Recorded at Anthony Newitt Studio’s Philadelphia This was recorded over several months late 1994 early 1995 Anthony produced, a friend of our’s George Sharp paid for most of recording so we named it after him, The George Factor. The cassette only had 3 songs on it ’72 Ragtop, Brick in my Head and Effie. The others songs were from that recording but we didn’t do anything with them. We re-recorded Beauty Queen here. 72 Ragtop Beauty Queen gf Brick In My Head Effie Turd Urinal Cake Violent Man
This post combines an old post about Sadistic Exploits from Noise Addiction and the Hellfire Sessions that I converted from Crunch Productions tape. Plus a bunch of other links to Sadistic Exploits stuff First here is the updated Noise Addiction post:
Sadistic Exploits – Collection 1981-1985
Sadistic Exploits were Philadelphia’s favorite Punk citizens and were the ones who really got things rolling in that city by organizing several Punk festivals and other gigs starting in 1981. In that year they also released their only single, now a classic of the time. Unfortunately due to members coming and going they were never able to realize their full potential as the best band from Philly. In 1985 they were able to get one last song released on an impossible to find compilation LP. Collected here are the three songs they released plus a demo, rehearsal and an interview. More into here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadistic_Exploits
Some videos that I have had up on YouTube but not up on this blog so I’m adding them to this post. Die Kreuzen were one of my favorite live bands and they always put on a great show. The JC Dobbs video was one I had owned on VHS but I loaned it out and never got back so I was so happy Lenny (RIP) had it and let me put it up.
Thanks Crunch Productions for the tapes
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