The Fensics - Tornado Warning

A. Tornado Warning


B. Full Time Job


THE FENSICS (Norman, OK)
Tornado Warning b/w Full Time Job
No Sweat (NSS-001),  1979

The Fensics began with singer/guitarist Wayne Buchner and guitarist Basile Kolliopoulis. With the addition of bassist Victor Goetz and drummer Steve Crossett, the group began rehearsing in Norman, OK in 1978. Having gone to see the Sex Pistols play in Tulsa as a joke earlier that year, Basille remarks that it was the strongest and realest experience he ever went through and the Pistols made him feel like an idiot for listening to garbage all those years.

The band mostly worked on original material but with a penchant for rockabilly they also mixed reworked versions of tunes like “Somethin’ Else” and “Hound Dog” into their set. The band had a look and sound unique to the area and were able to secure gigs and build a following. The Fensics played every joint they could between Norman, Tulsa, and Dallas and earned slots opening up for the Cramps, the Police, Talking Heads, and other touring acts.

In 1979, the Fensics went in the studio with producer Clovis Roblaine and laid down 16 tracks in under a week. They chose “Tornado Warning” and “Part Time Job” to be released as their sole single on Roblaine’s No Sweat label. Soon after its release, Basile’s brother Mihos joined the band on lead guitar. Wayne was later replaced by Joe Thompson on vocals.

Come 1980, Basile, Victor, and Joe decided to move to NYC. Basile had a short stint playing with the Senders but Joe's unexpected passing soon brought everyone back to Oklahoma. Basile and Mihos then reunited to start the Fortune Tellers along with Victor and drummer Mike Newberry. The band recorded three albums and toured for over ten years before breaking up in the early 90s.

Basile, who also played in a side project called the Reverb Brothers for the better part of twenty years, passed away in January 2013 due to cancer. His brother Mihos and Victor still record and perform on occasion as The Argonauts.

Clovis Roblaine and the Cowboy Twinkies

CLOVIS ROBLAINE (Norman, OK)
The following selections taken from:
Clovis Roblaine: The Clovis Roblaine Story LP, No Sweat (00279), 1979
Cowboy Twinkies: Sweaty Betty b/w I'm In Trouble 7", No Sweat (CT-1866), 1975

Sweaty Betty


Monster Love


My Heart


Please Don't Call Me Cool Guy


Stone Cold


Cry All Over Me


Dennis Meehan was born in New Hampshire and lived around New England as a kid. He moved to Oklahoma City as a junior in high school and ended up attending the University of Oklahoma in Norman. It was there in the mid 60s that Meehan got his rock n’ roll start playing in surf bands.

By the early 1970s Meehan became the bass player in singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard’s group the Cowboy Twinkies. The band was very popular and recorded an album for Reprise in 1975. During the sessions, Meehan was intrigued with the engineering aspect of things and could visualize in his mind how things should be arranged. Having taken on the persona of Clovis Roblaine, Meehan partnered up with Hubbard’s drummer Jimmy Herbst in 1978 to open a recording studio in Norman called No Sweat. Herbst was to be the engineer while Meehan, who idolized Phil Spector, would be the producer.

Tired of touring, Meehan left the Twinkies to fully concentrate on the studio. Meanwhile, Herbst’s commitment to Hubbard kept him away which forced Meehan to teach himself how to engineer. He practiced working on his own songs and in 1979 collaborated with many local musicians to make an album, The Clovis Roblaine Story. Having only 8 tracks at a time to work with, it was tricky to get everything done because there were so many elements. But in the end Meehan succeeded in piecing together a sound that was the perfect blend of Buddy Holly meets the Wall Of Sound while seamlessly incorporating aspects of power pop, doo wop, surf, country twang, and other genres into the mix.

500 copies of The Clovis Roblaine Story were pressed on Meehan’s own No Sweat imprint. He had to take out loans to finance the LP and worked three jobs to help pay off the debt. Prior to that, Meehan released the “Sweaty Betty” single on No Sweat. He had wrote and sang lead on the song during his time with the Cowboy Twinkies. They recorded it live to 4-track and spent just $100 total between the recording and manufacturing of the small pressing. Meehan also produced and released records for local groups the Fensics and the Lienke Brothers.

Meehan eventually moved out to New York with hopes of being an engineer but had no success. Later he tried his luck in LA but found nothing but closed doors. He ended up on a new career path after seeing an ad for a boom operator needed. He worked on six movies his first year and then began mixing sound and working on commercials and documentaries. Establishing himself in Austin, Meehan went back to his roots playing in a surf band called the Plungers who released four CDs before he retired and moved to Vermont. A retrospect of Clovis Roblaine material could be found at CDBaby.