We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

live at the jazz closet - baltimore 12​/​17​/​89

by the SUB-MENSAS

supported by
Seymour Brown
Seymour Brown thumbnail
/
1.
zippy da-da 02:55
info
buy track
2.
godzillas gift of life 01:53
info
buy track
3.
wearing asbestos 04:42
info
buy track
4.
aren't you perfect, too? 01:58
info
buy track
5.
death is a beach 03:01
info
buy track
6.
phlegm over washington 05:36
info
buy track
7.
anger is.... 02:54
info
buy track
8.
wcvt interview 9/1/89 26:47
info
buy track

about

a great recording of a great show by a great band with a great story to go with it....
"it was a dark and dreary night - december 17,1989 - cold as could be, and an ice storm on top of that, which caused the other band on the bill - buttsteak, from norfolk virginia, to cancel thier appearance that night, leaving the sub-mensas as the only band on the bill. the jazz closet was once a swanky jazz club in downtown baltimore on franklin street, direcly across the street from the congress hotel and the world famous marble bar and galaxy ballroom, which all had thier heyday's in the 1930s-50s. by the time the sub-mensas were playing there the jazz closet was a run-down, almost-condemed dump with no windows or heat which was being rented by our friend jeff shepard in order to put on punk-rock and metal shows. about a dozen of our most die-hard fans and friends showed up that night to see the sub-mensas rip through thier set in record time, dressed in our warmest coats and ski-caps, with the crowd huddled together and drinking heavily to stay warm. during the introduction to wearing asbestos i lit up a huge doobie and passed it around to the band and then into the crowd. i remember it was so cold, but we were all flyin' high and playing faster and tighter than ever it seemed, just to get that gig over with so we could go home to our sweethearts and warm beds.
this would turn out to be my last gig with sub-mensas, as well as darryls, and within a year my life would be unimaginably different and i would be starting life anew in new york city... the day after this show the band went into multimedia studios in west baltimore to lay down two takes each of "accident" and "nix the nineties", recorded direct-to-digital by mike mcconell, and pressed onto a 7-inch 45rpm record by a&r records in dallas texas. we got the test pressing back and it sounded ok, even though they had to "re-eq" and compress the recording to get the needle to stay in the groove. a couple weeks later we got 1000 copies of the record, and on that very same day i sliced the tip off of my finger while fileting a chicken breast at the cultured pearl cafe, where i had just started working again as a prep cook. the tip of my finger was sown back on, but it would be months before i would be able to play bass again, so the sub-mensas started doing some rehearsing and songwriting with me playing a drum machine and effects, and darryl playing keyboards and saxaphone. reluctantly, greg went along on guitar but really didn't like this weird psychedelic-disco-house music we were making and suggested we take a break until my left hand got good enough to rock the bass again. as summer rolled around darryl quit the band. he was living in d.c. while the rest of us were in baltimore, and playing with two other bands down there already - tongue and groove, with ex-submensas steve geest and doug gaerlan, and the psychonaughts, who already had an album out and were getting pretty popular. then damon came over to my house one day and announced that he was breaking up the band. in the next couple months to follow my girlfriend mary would leave me and i started spending more and more time gigging in new york city with jennifer blowdryer, eventually moving to nyc for good....
so , thanks for letting me share that story with you, and enjoy this slice of musical history from the sonic kitchen of love archives...."
- mike bell 10/7/2013
PS- there are still a few copies of the "accident/nix the 90s" 7inch vinyl single left, available for $3 postpaid. just send an e-mail requesting one along with your mailing address and the $3 to paypal and we'll send it to you through the snail-mail system....

credits

released October 7, 2013

darryl dardenne - drums
mike bell - bass
greg stinson - guitar
damon norko - vocals
recorded live december 17,1989 directly off the soundboard
engineered and mixed by jeff shepard
all lyrics by damon norko
music written by mike bell (tracks 1,2,3,6) and richard drews (tracks 4,5,7)
tracks 4,7 (p)1985 ripe records
track 5 (p)1986 xenon records
track 3 (p)1987 ripe records
tracks 2,6 (p)1988 ripe records
track 1 (p)1989 ripe records
this recording (p)2013 sonic kitchen of love - all rights reserved
photo by karen elliott for maryland musician magazine

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

sonic kitchen of love recordings image

sonic kitchen of love recordings Baltimore, Maryland

founded in 1998 - releases from : FUZZ UNLIMITED, the PLATINUM SLUGS, DJ HERBAL-T, the DIRT, WHISTLETIPS, the SUB-MENSAS, MIKE BELL, JENNIFER BLOWDRYER, the BILLY SYNDROME, ANANDAS PARASITES, the NO-FI and more.... new material,
previously released and out-of-print titles,and unreleased studio and live archives ... more

contact / help

Contact sonic kitchen of love recordings

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like live at the jazz closet - baltimore 12/17/89, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now