ish records

Star Trap - 4 More Songs

2012-01-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

Star Trap's 2nd album sees a departure from their early material, this time featuring vocals by the duo. Still the standard 4 song album length, we get to hear the depth of the band with their acoustic guitars, percussion, and soothing voices. Enjoy 2 of their classics, Joking on Jesus, and True Grunge (Torn Tights).

Little Richard and The Pickles

2012-01-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

Taken off the ultra rare "ish c-sides" cassette, I offer Little Richard and The Pickles recording of "I Like Dogs". This band, composed of Richard Paulk on vocals, Brian Campas on guitar/vocals, Joel Lindelof on percussion, and Sean Sutphin on harmonica, only recorded this one track in 1992.

FPRP - The Off White EP

2012-01-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

FPRP started a joke at a garage party in around 1991. Neale Shaffer had this idea of him and I starting a band on the spot. We did 1 song. Later, FPRP recorded a few more songs and released "The Off White EP" in 1993. This release features Neale on guitar/vocals, and Joel on guitar/vocals/percussion. I chose 3 songs, "Summer of 68", "Way Cheese", and "Snow". "Summer of 68" is our attempt at a love song, while "Way Cheese" is about someone Neale had met that could only say 3 words, "way", "cheese" and the name of some video game. "Snow" is about our hatred of Snow. "Informer" Snow, not the white snow. Well, he's white too, but the white stuff that falls from the sky snow.

The Shutdowns - In The Attic

2012-01-02T12:18:00.001-08:00

The Shutdowns were Erik Sugg on guitar/vocals, Andrew Dovi on bass, and Joel Lindelof on drums. After self-releasing an album, they called it quits. A year or so later, the 3 of them got together, along with John Wallace, to record some stuff in Joel's attic. What you hear here is Andrew singing The Shutdowns track, "Breaking My Back", but not before Erik tells him that "it better be tough". After that hilarity ends, we get to hear John croon out The Ramones "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". This is not the last time you will get to hear John and Andrew on lead vocal duties. The ish archive runs deep.

Star Trap - Star Trap Theme

2012-01-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

Recorded on 1993 at the ish headquarters at their ½ address, this legendary recording is the first of 3 Star Trap releases. Named after the random tape it was recorded on, Star Trap, this duo featured Dave DiDonato on guitar/keyboard, and Joel Lindelof on guitar. Dave holds down the rhythm while Joel has no idea what he is doing on lead which lends to a wonderful mess. I give you the opening track, "Star Trap Theme".

The Gentleman Callers

2012-01-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

This one off Gentleman Callers session featured Joel Lindelof on drums, Lucian Cicchitto on guitar and Erik Sugg on bass and vocals. In the summer of 2000, Erik had just come back from touring with The Dragstrip Syndicate and came to visit me in my house in Alexandria, VA. My basement had an assortment of equipment, so we decided to resurrect The Gentleman Callers, something Erik and I had done a few years earlier. We brought back "Sweet FLA", a song about a true story of a group of crazies (FFA?) who wanted to blow up Disney Word on "Gay Day". The other 2 songs I had forgotten were ever recorded, but Erik has this to say about them:

"I think that first tune was called "Baby Bitch," and is a total rip off of "All Night Long" by Thee Hypnotics. I think the second one was called "Leper Love." In one of my English classes at the time I had read a poem or something about a leper living on a colony who was pining for a girl who couldn't come near him due to his leprosy. The first line to the song is "Baby, you know how it goes. You'd love me if I had a nose." HAHAHA!"

E.T. - Remember Me

2011-12-26T07:45:00.000-08:00

Digging deeper into the ish archives, I offer you E.T., Extra Testicle. A one-off band featuring Joel Lindelof and Brian Campas on guitar and vocals and the legendary Vince Miller on percussion and vocals. Recorded around 1994 in Brian's living room, this session featured the return of Vince, who can be heard on very early ish recordings from 1990 which I will share another time. This time, he gives us an extremely drunk on Boones Farm performance. Listen to the painful and hilarious progression from song idea to ish classic in less than 3 minutes.

Steak and Eggs - Birthers/Burgers

2011-03-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

Stop, collaborate and listen. Steak and Eggs are back with a brand new invention.

More good enough rock from Steak and Eggs

2010-01-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

Another generous helping of Steak and Eggs with special guest Catsup! Put your New Year resolutions aside and be "Badass and Free".

Steak and Eggs (featuring Yoko Hambone) - Eggnog Overdrive

2009-12-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, from Steak and Eggs (and Yoko Hambone).

Steak and Eggs -Punk Rockers Don't Use the Bathroom

2009-12-17T13:43:00.001-08:00

Someone smashed the toilet in our practice space. Why not write a song about it? Why ask? Do!

The Fanta - United We Stand

2009-11-12T20:05:00.000-08:00

United We Stand, recorded in Williamsburg VA in 1999. I found the lyrics to it too. Bonus! Not sure why the ball licking lyric didn't make the cut. Seems like prime Fanta to me.

Baby USA, the lost Southern Vibrations song

2009-11-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some lyrics to a long lost Southern Vibrations song that was recorded, but we just couldn't get the vocals right. Don't know if we were too drunk, it was late, or whatever, but we just couldn't get it right. I hope Erik still has a tape of it for his 4-track, cuz I would love to hear it again. It was us doing our best southern rock Chuck Berry, if I remember correctly. Baby USA.

Bear/Nightcreelers timeline

2009-11-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I noted everything Bear was doing at the time. Where we played, when we recorded, and who was playing bass, etc. I didn't know this existed until I was going through ye olde ish lyric notebook I had packed away in the archives. I had forgotten Nathan Mercer played bass with us for 1 show. Wow.

Scrotuculus flyer

2009-11-12T19:02:00.001-08:00

Scrotuculus with Fulflej, July 18th 1994 at Chronos Cafe (Twisters), Richmond VA. I love how we were advertised as "Richmond's new rock metal gods". It was the first and the final show, but lives on in cassette tape form which I will have to share later. The back side of the flyer is a note to me from my old roommate that reads, "Phone bill money. Best I can do right now. $13.50. Scott" Funny, cuz the phone bill eventually became a really sore subject. You know the story.

Steak and Eggs - My Baby's Got The Gravy (9-20-09)

2009-09-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

When the band is away, the Steak and Eggs will play. Lucius and I got together one Sunday afternoon and cranked out this gem. There will be more...

Joel

Bear (part 1)

2009-07-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some Bear recordings from Brian Campas' living room, straight to boom box. This is part 1 of I dont know how many more, and I have a lot. I am unsure of the date, but I am thinking around 1993. I know Tony was still in high school and would sometimes skip school to come to band practice. The 'Merry Christmas' track came about after failing to learn 'We Three Kings' for a Christmas compilation we were asked to provide a song for called "Food, Not Bombs" on Whirled Records. 'Energizer Boy' was originally a "John Thomas Experience" song, which all three Bear members had recoreded with them. 'Wanted Her' was our version of the song originally done by the legendary ish band, "The Ocean Lovers". More on them later. Until then...

The Tom Jeremiah Band (2008)

2009-06-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Mike flew back from LA and Tom and Tony made the trip down to Raleigh to get the Tom Jeremiah Band back together. I had no idea what songs were gonna do, but Tom already had the lyrics printed out and was practicing what he was going to "ad lib". Of course none of us actually knew how to play the songs, but that's where my company laptop, aircard, and YouTube come in. We bought what I thought would be too much beer, and played well into the night, taking a couple hour break to sober up at my house to eat and play some Rock Band. Tony started falling asleep during "Sunglasses", as heard in his playing which is pretty hilarious. Mike and I were crying during the mixdown, and turned up the guitar part so it wouldnt be missed in the final mix. I dont think I have ever laughed that hard. It was a good feeling to get the Tom Jeremiah Band back together and something I hope never ends.

The Tom Jeremiah Band - You Belong To The City (2003)

2009-06-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

A semi-annual tradition, The Tom Jeremiah Band is again the brainchild of Mike Chapman. "Let's start a band where Tom Jeremiah sings all the songs". Done deal! All cover songs, this one is a cover of Glenn Frey's "You Belong To The City". In attendance I think were Tom Jeremiah, Mike Chapman, Mike Mehigan, Tony Brown, Lucian Cicchitto, and Joel Lindelof

Roll Out The Red Carpet For Bear (1994)

2009-06-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

Bear got together a garbage bag of loose change and dollar bills and headed to Winter Sound in Gloucester VA to record the Roll Out The Red Carpet EP. I think we had enough money for 3 hours of studio time. I remember the engineer being dumbstruck that we were happy with 1 take of each song. He didnt know we were pressed for time due to out limited pocket change budget. I always loved these songs, especially the very sarcastic "Temperature Surprise" with the cookie monster vocals and firebell. Ladies and gentlemen, Brian Campas "sangin and twangin", Tony Brown on "lead thunda bass", and Joel Lindelof on "2 pc. thunda drums". Bear.

The Demonics (1994)

2009-06-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Demonics was an experimental thing I did in 1994. I had a cheap guitar and Nathan Mercer's old stereo. It was one of those GPX stereos that you buy at Ames, with the record player and dual cassette with a mic input. What you could do is play samples of records and record them on a cassette on the cassette recorder. Then you could put the cassette in the "player" side, play it back, and record it plus another mic track on the "record" side of the tape deck. You could do this over and over again, in essence multitracking one track at a time. I have a whole cassette tape of these experiments, but these 3 tracks are my favorite. The first track, "Wise Up" is 2 tracks, guitar and voice. The recorded voice is from an answering machine message that Vince Miller was leaving me when I rented a room form this goth girl we called Rose Scary (real name Rosemary). He was upset that the outgoing message didnt state whose house it was, and he let it be known, "so, wise up". Her roommate/boyfriend picked up the phone at the end of the message and his comment was conveniently recorded also. I threw the tape in the GPX and put guitar over it. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the clip at the beginning. That is a recording of my mom from the early 80s saying to my dad, "take down those goddamn christmas lights, faggot".

"Feeding Ducks" was a song written during the time of the infamous Lorena Bobbit story. I had heard this story about how common it was in some other country for wives do the same (you know, penis trimming) and throwing the remains out the windows of their homes for the local ducks to feed on. Not sure if that is true, but that is the story I heard.

"Thirty Seconds" was just me and a guitar singing into the aforementioned answering machine. I thought I had 30 seconds to record something on to it, but apparently I only had 25.

Southern Vibrations part 2 (1999)

2009-06-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

I am not entirely sure how this came about, but there was a second Southern Vibrations session. I think Mike Chapman was away at school, and the sounds of ye olde Vibrations made their way to Richmond VA where Matt Forest heard them and had to be part of it. I knew Matt as a the drummer of Dragstrip Syndicate, and had no idea he could play bass until he sat and laid down the bass for the "new" Southern Vibrations. There was actually a 5th song recorded, in the vain of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" that we could never get the vocals right, and hopefully it's still sitting on Erik's 4-track waiting for us to one day actually record the vocals. I don't remember much else about recording this stuff, but I still feel like I cheated on Mike Chapman since this was his idea to begin with.

Killer Bananas (The Christmas Mice) (1992)

2009-05-30T20:54:00.001-07:00

John Swart gave me a cassette tape many years ago from ish richmond division, called "ish 34, a tribute to the gnome". On it were a bunch of bands I hadnt heard. One of those bands was the Killer Bananas. I will let Erik Sugg tell the tale.

It was Dave Didonato & I during the summer of '92. "Steve Lewis" was about our boss at "That Seafood Place", who we hated. "Swim Wish" was a "tribute" to the Smashing Pumpkins whereas "Chromatic Life" was a tribute to S.O.D.'s "Chromatic Death." Somewhere Dave has the full length recording. I think we may have called ourselves The Christmas Mice at one point too.

Southern Vibrations part 1 (1999)

2009-05-30T07:59:00.001-07:00

Around 1996, a bunch of us were sitting at Taco Bell in Williamsburg VA and Mike Chapman told us his genius idea of creating a southern rock band called Southern Vibrations. It was a funny joke, and none of us even listened to southern rock at the time, so the idea sort of went by the wayside like many other bands that could have been. In 1999, while Mike was on a break from school, the Southern Vibration's idea came to fruition. Another one-off ish band, but this one was gonna be real songs with real song writing, still mostly recorded in one take. It was Mike on bass, Erik Sugg on guitar and Joel Lindelof on drums. These were the most challenging ish songs to date, with actual song structure, multitracking, and lyrics but that's not to say the humor wasn't there. The sound a of a beer cracking open on "Loose Legged Woman" sets the tone for the rest of the session. By the time "Southern Man" was ready to record, it was late and we were drunk and you can hear Mike falling asleep at the bass, barely plucking away at the strings. That is easily my favorite part of this session. Mike was so tired, he went home, leaving Erik and I to finish the vocals on "Southern Man" to ourselves. Our faithful 4th member, John Wallace, was there to share ideas and cheer us on throughout the night. I had always hoped there would be another Southern Vibrations session, and eventually there was, but that will have to wait until another time.

Rheum 237 (1989)

2009-05-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

The very first ish band, Rheum 237, recorded these songs in Joel Lindelof's attic in 1989 with Joel on drums, Nathan Mercer on bass, and Dave Cashen on vocals. I had to dig deep in the archives for this one. The band was named after the infamous room in The Shining. Nathan was playing some homemade bass he called "Methusda" through a tiny amp with lots of distortion. "Moose Goosers" was a song Dave had heard when he was younger, so we put music to it and had a song. The rest of the tracks were all improvised and done in one take. Nathan and Joel were listening to a lot of Cure at the time, and there are some Cure covers that will appear eventually on this blog. That's it and that's all.

The Nightcreelers 4 track (1994)

2009-05-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

Recorded sometime around 1994 (I think) on a 4-track in Brian Campas' living room, this was a brief period of The Nightcreelers without a bass player. I am not sure if this was after Tony Brown in between Dave Joyce, or after Dave and in between Tony returning. Regardless, it is Joel Lindelof in Drums and Brian Campas on guitar and bass. "Holly Portal" was Brian's knock on the Jolly Mortals, but sounding nothing like them. "Firebell" was obviously an homage to the firebell I had mounted on my bass drum, though there is no firebell anywhere in the track."Let It Ride" was one of the first songs ever we ever wrote as Ladybug, then Bear, and then passed on to The Nightcreelers. You can hear Amy singing backup on the last chorus. "Telescope Man" was our attempt at writing a trashy surf rocker. Apparently we were listening to a lot of surf music and trash rock at the time and Brian must have just recently got the tremelo/pan pedal as it's everywhere on these recordings.