THE AMATONES (Amarillo, TX)
Plastic Surgeon b/w Atomic Gears In Motion
Urban Doughboy, 1983
The Amatones formed in Amarillo in 1980 in response to the lack of new wave bands in the area. The five-piece group, which had two vocalists (Mark Jones and John Jacobs), quickly built a steady regional following and earned their way onto gigs opening for the likes of Bow Wow Wow, Joe "King" Carrasco, and others.
They went to the Audio Refinery in 1982 to lay down two tracks for a single which was released early the next year on their own Urban Doughboy Records. They received praise locally and the record sold very well which prompted another recording session. A six song cassette titled Boys Of The Universe was released the following year on Urban Doughboy. They intended it to have a vinyl release as well, though it never did materialize.
After about five years playing together, the band had a repertoire of about 60 songs, though very few of them ever got recorded. Mark Jones, along with guitarist Mark Sorrels, bassist Paul Baker (aka Paul Reagan), and drummer Phil Marquis then morphed into New Congress, a band that released an LP and a couple cassettes. Then around 1989, the four changed monikers once again to the Blue Johnnies, their most successful act, producing 3 CDs. All in all, they spent about 20 years playing together.
"Plastic Surgeon" was featured on 2013's Texas power pop compilation album, Radio Ready that was released on Cheap Rewards Records. "Party Favors" from their long lost cassette, which can be heard above, will make its vinyl debit on the second volume of the Texas power pop series.
D-DAY (Austin, TX)
Too Young To Date b/w Every Time I Ask You Out
Moment, 1979
De Lewellen had first started singing in bands while attending college in Missouri. When she moved to Austin, she joined the original vaudeville troupe at Esther's Follies. By 1979, she noticed the burgeoning Raul's punk scene and wanted to get involved.
Having become friends with David Fore through her time at Esther's, she asked if he would be interested in starting an alternative band, to which he happily obliged. David had previously played drums in iconic TX psychedelic band, Bubble Puppy. He lined up Stuart Hillyer on guitar and a bassist named John Keller.
They started jamming together and the songs immediately poured out. They played their first gig at Esther's before graduating to Raul's and other more appropriate spots. They'd often venture out to Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston as well.
They agreed to let a fan named Anne Goetzmann become their manager. She, along with a wealthy lady from Houston named Alisa O'Leary started a label called Moment Productions. Their first release was D-Day's "Too Young To Date" single (later releases on the label include the Big Boys, Standing Waves, etc). The partners went out to Los Angeles to promote D-Day and their new record. Stopping at KROQ, they convinced Rodney Bingenheimer to play the song on the air. Shortly thereafter, it hit number 1.
College stations started to pick it up as well, but before long, mothers started picketing the stations, trying to get the song banned because of the lyric, "He just wants to pop my cherry." The song received airplay in Austin as well, on the local KLBJ. In fact, Lady Bird Johnson was listening one time and called the station demanding they never play the song again. Eventually they went in the studio to record over the one line to make it more suitable for radio, though the censored version was never released as a single.
The band gained even more notoriety when an article was written in Penthouse Magazine about the fiasco. So they went out to LA to take advantage of the situation and got to open for the Go-Go's at the Whisky. Continuous west coast touring prevailed as a second single, "Right To Know," became a hit on KROQ as well. By this time Stuart had left the band and was first replaced by keyboardist Glover Gill, followed by Will Fiveash on guitar.
The band was very well received on their road shows and earned slots opening for the Vapors, Nick Lowe, Romeovoid, Psychedelic Furs, Talking heads, English Beat and others. While playing in Los Angeles, an A&M rep saw their set and signed them soon after.
The producer they wanted was booked up, so the band was flown out England to work with Bob Sargeant. He listened to them rehearse and didn't like their "hooligan music," so he pushed them in a much more pop direction. They spent three months in Europe recording the album, but by the time the record came out, they didn't have a management company behind them and they ultimately slipped through the cracks. By early 1984, the band broke up as De and Glover were very unhappy with the new direction and quit.
D-Day could be heard on the Texas compilation "Tales From The Edge" as well as Rhino's "New Wave Hits Of The 80's."
THE TAKE (Austin, TX)
Tonight b/w Four Dollar Date
Take (0023), 1982
Growing up in Ft Worth, Greg Thelen started playing guitar in sixth grade after seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Taking only a few lessons, he quickly realized he had a knack for picking things up and started his first band called Apartment 5D with some neighborhood friends. They won a talent show and played school functions, but things eventually fizzled after a couple years.
Greg later moved to Austin to attend school at UT, studying sociology and psychology. He joined a prog rock band called Stranger who started playing the then-scarce Austin club circuit including the newly turned punk hot spot, Raul's. By 1981, he decided to take the music in a more new wave direction, so he made a demo recording of some new material he'd written to shop around. After posting an ad at Strait Music that he was looking for a singer and other musicians, he quickly recruited Clark Sykes on bass, David Weaver on drums and Robert Rasberry on lead vocals. Greg and David would provide the back-up vocals.
The Take primarily played at Club Foot thanks to the fact that Robert worked there running spot lights for touring bands. They'd occasionally venture out of town for gigs in Waco, Dallas and Houston as well. After about a year they decided to record two songs for a single. At the time, they shared a rehearsal space with a reggae band called Pressure. The room was an old concrete fur vault (appropriately coined The Vault) and that's where they recorded "Tonight" and "Four Dollar Date." The two songs became the band's sole output. 500 copies of the single were pressed but only around half of them were housed in self-made, foldover sleeves.
David started having health problems and had to leave the band. He was replaced by Kevin Pearson. Around the same time Clark was tired and also left the band, being replaced by Frank Raymond III. The band continued on for just a short while longer.
Another thing of note is that the band made a music video for the song "Four Dollar Date" but the one known copy of the tape has since been misplaced. Also, the Take single made the number three pick in the 1982 Austin Chronicle Music Poll.
"Tonight" was featured on 2013's Texas power pop compilation album, Radio Ready that was released on Cheap Rewards Records.
THE SHADES (St Petersburg, FL)
Time For Change b/w Shake It
Direct Hit (DH-001), 1980
Dennis Dalcin started playing guitar, writing songs and singing in bands in 1972. His first project was called Bite with drummer Guy Silvestro. They ended up forming an Alice Cooper meets The Who type band called The Look a couple years later.
Around the same time, Gary Heslin was playing drums with guitarist Terry Carolan in renowned Tampa glam band, Amnesia. By '76 Dennis and Gary had both joined Terry's new group, Just Boys. After just a brief stint in that group, Dennis wanted to form his own band.
He found a bass player named Marla Misenheimer who had been in the Snails with Richard Barone, who later went on to lead The Bongos. With Marla on board, Dennis then called on Gary, who had just left Just Boys, and the three of them began The Shades. Flustered yet? Me too!
They started picking up shows when they could get them (their first one opening for Just Boys). There wasn't much of a scene going on in the St. Pete/Tampa area yet, so most of their gigs were at nearby campuses, playing to apathetic audiences.
At first, the band was heavily influenced by the glam rock scene of New York and London. But when Gary left the group in '78, Dennis changed gears toward a more mod look and sound, heavily laced in the Jam and early Who stylings.
The new line-up consisted of Dennis' old band mate Guy Silvestro on drums and Guy's brother-in-law Ed Siersema on bass. Guy was also a sax player and sometimes at shows would stick the sax between his legs and play the drums with his left hand while wailing on the sax using his right. The people of Tampa Bay weren't quite ready for that yet. However, a neighbor of Dennis believed in what they were doing and shelled out the money to produce a single for the band.
In July, 1980, they recorded "Time For Change" and "Shake It" in a 4 track studio next to Paragon Music. 1,000 copies of the single were released on Dennis' Direct Hit label in a sleeve he put together in art class at graphics school. The single sold well despite not receiving any local airplay. In fact, most of the copies sold outside of Florida.
The band members started going their separate ways and playing different styles of music after that. Guy played in various punk bands, while Dennis formed Perfect Strangers, followed by The Petal Pushers, and most recently, The Lears, who have a CD out on Get Hip. Ed became a geologist.
STANDING WAVES (Austin, TX)
Early Warning EP
Classified, 1979
Larry Seaman played in a short lived band called Hobson's Choice before discovering bands like Television, Roxy Music and the Velvet Underground through rags like the New York Rocker. Larry's friend, Roland Swenson, then hipped him to a new club in Austin called Raul's that was showcasing local punk bands. A week later, Larry saw the Skunks and The Next play at Raul's and promptly dropped out of school.
Roland's sister Dottie introduced Larry to her friend Shona Lay, who played keyboards. They played their first gig at the Texas Union Ballroom billed as Latent Homos with a line-up consisting of Larry on guitar, his old roommate David Cardwell on bass, Shona on keys, and a drummer named Mark. The October 1978 showcase featured The Huns, as well as the debut performance of Terminal Mind.
Unfortunately, Mark was more of a hard rock drummer and left after that first show. He later joined Bob Schneider in Joe Rockhead. Following his departure, a short-lived replacement named Ian Bailey, who had previously played in the Bodysnatchers came in before Larry's old friend Bob Murray stepped in to fill the position. Bob had played with Larry in Hobson's Choice. Randy Franklin joined about a month later on guitar and the first solidified line-up of Standing Waves came to be.
Within six months, the band found themselves opening up for Blondie in Houston where they played in front of a couple thousand people. Standing Waves appeared in the cult classic film, Roadie, where they played the role of a band called Spittle. The movie also featured Blondie, Alice Cooper, and Meatloaf amongst others.
Near the end of 1979, the band recorded four songs at the Loma Ranch out in Fredricksburg, TX. They chose all but "Crash & Burn" to appear on their debut EP that was released on Classified Records, a label started by their manager Roland Swenson. Unhappy with the quiet mastering job, the sleeve encourages listeners to PLAY LOUD!!
The 500 copies of the 7" sold out quickly, so they went back to Loma to record more tunes. Their second release featured "Don't Worry" and "Integrating Circuits." Following its release, the group started making frequent trips to New York City to play CBGB's, Hurrah's and other hot spots. They even made it to Canada once!
By the end of 1980, Randy left the band and joined F-Systems. David followed shortly thereafter. Larry then rounded up a bass player/songwriter named Bruce Henderson who had previously played in a power pop band called The Fad. Six months later, Bob also left the band, leaving the drummers seat vacant once again. They then called in the help of David Dage, a prolific drummer that had played on The Fad's single and in another band with Bruce back in Stillwater, OK called the International Broadcasters.
Continuing on as a four piece, they started writing together and developing a new sound. In 1981 they released the Vertigo EP before deciding to move to New York. Once there, they all shared an apartment with Roland and Jim Drummond, their sound man/roadie, who coincidentally had also played in the International Broadcasters with Bruce and David. Jim would occasionally play guitar with Standing Waves as well.
After a couple of years, the living arrangement started to take its tole. While everyone else returned to Austin, Bruce stayed in New York and moved on to the next stage of his musical career before becoming an accomplished writer. Having lost the uniqueness of the original version of the band, and then the unity of sound and writing with Bruce in the second incarnation, Larry didn't feel right continuing Standing Waves.
Larry went on to play in a band called Optimistics with Shona and David Cardwell and now plays with Randy Franklin and Terri Lord (formerly in the Jitters) in a band called Why Not Satellite. Jim played in a late incarnation of The Next, while Roland became the managing director of SXSW. David Dage unfortunately passed away in 2003. Standing Waves play reunion shows from time to time.
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS (Stillwater, OK)
Self Titled 12" EP
Murder One (GRAB-1), 1980
Bruce Henderson studied bass guitar in high school with Ron Flynt, who was attending college in Stillwater at the time. Ron later left Oklahoma for Los Angeles and went on to form the great 20/20. Meanwhile, Bruce started his own band called the International Broadcasters who were originally a three piece with Bruce on bass/vocals, Ed Eissenstat on guitar, and David Dage on drums/vocals. They played some gigs around Stillwater and once opened for the Tom Robinson Band in Tulsa.
The band went on hiatus when Bruce moved to Austin to attend college at UT in 1979 . He immediately hooked up with fellow Oklahoman, Tom Grula, who had started school at UT a couple years earlier. They formed a band, but after a couple months of rehearsing without a drummer, decided to bring David Dage down from Stillwater. He recorded two songs with them that would later become the sole single for The Fad.
The Fad played on for about 18 months with a different drummer (who actually lived in Austin city limits), but when Bruce felt things were winding down because Tom was getting ready to graduate, he went back up to Stillwater and recorded five songs with the Broadcasters in one long session. This time they added Jim Drummond on guitar, making it a four piece.
The record was released as a 45 RPM 12" EP on Bruce's Murder One label. Though it was intended only as a studio project, the band did play a release party at Sound Warehouse in Stillwater. During this one-off performance, the band introduced the song "Vertigo," which would later surface in the repertoire of Standing Waves, an active band Bruce joined after arriving back in Austin.
The 500 copies of the International Broadcasters 12" eventually hit the shelves of record shops in OK and TX, and through friends and connections, all the copies eventually disappeared. Bruce later convinced David to move down to Austin where they continued to write and play together in Standing Waves. Jim Drummond even joined in as roadie and part time player when the band relocated to New York. Things eventually fizzled and most everyone retreated back to Texas. Jim joined a late incarnation of The Next with Ty Gavin. You can read more about Bruce and David on our Fad feature.
THE NEXT (Austin, TX)
Make It Quick EP
Sharp (97180), 1979
Skip Seven moved to San Antonio in October 1977 after having lived in London where he played in a band called The Rage. After arriving in Texas, he hoped to find a similarly flourishing punk scene there, but the seed hadn't yet been planted. It was a few months later when the Sex Pistols played their infamous gig at Randy's Rodeo at the start of 1978 that things really started to take shape.
Searching the crowd for people who looked like punks, Skip met Ty Gavin. They discussed their interest in starting a band together, and sure enough, Skip moved the 80 mile trek north to be a part of the action in Austin just a couple weeks later. He shared an apartment with Kathy Valentine, Carla Olson (both in the Violators, later in the Go-Go's and the Textones, respectively), Jesse Sublett (also in the Violators, as well as the Skunks), and Eddie Munoz (Skunks, later in the Plimsouls).
Skip and Ty began writing songs together. The original line-up included Arthur Hayes on drums, Manny Rosario on bass, Skip on lead guitar and Ty up front on vocals. Skip, who had to convince the others that they would be called The Next, was in charge of organizing practices. He wanted their first gig to be unusual, so when they took stage for the first time in the Spring of '78, the show was an exclusive "invite only" engagement.
After that, the band started playing shows once or twice a week at Raul’s, a failing Tejano bar across the street from the University of Texas that had reluctantly started allowing “punk” shows, which ultimately saved their business. After Manny missed a couple gigs, they were looking to replace him. Manny went on to have stints with The Huns, Inserts and many other local bands. Meanwhile, a bassist named Lee Shupp was playing gigs at Raul's in a cover band called Live Wire. Ty took notice of the way Lee played his bass more like a lead with lots of melody and wanted to try him out for bass in The Next.
As luck would have it, Lee came on board. His first gig with the band was in Killeen, TX. While a small percentage of the people in attendance enjoyed their set, the rest either hated it or didn’t know what to make of it. Their sound was raw and they were full of energy. In the end, a mini riot ensued and a security guard shot out their tire as they sped out of the parking lot. Daunted by the events, the band’s manager had to assure Lee that this was not typical so that he wouldn't leave the group.
It isn't entirely clear who played bass on the bands first EP, Make It Quick, since several members have different recollections. It is believed that Steve Marsh from Terminal Mind played bass on "Monotony" and "Cheap Rewards" (as he was temporarily filling in for the band while they were between bass players), and Lee Shupp recorded the bass for "Mr. Wonderful." Other recollections say they Lee re-recorded the bass parts for the other two songs, while still others say Manny played on the record.
Regardless of whose bass playing is actually being heard, the EP features three incredibly aggressive punk tunes. All three songs were featured on the Deep In The Throat Of Texas compilation LP, while “Monotony” (a song Skip wrote when he was living in London) made an appearance on Killed By Death #6, and “Cheap Rewards” (the namesake of this here blog), was comped on Bloodstains Across Texas.
The record was released on their manager Will Sharp’s label, Sharp Records, and was cased in a foldout poster sleeve. All copies are unique, with the band’s name and the title of the EP being sporadically rubber stamped across it. It is unknown how many copies were pressed but it was likely in the neighborhood of 500.
The band hit the road, playing Midwest shows in Chicago and Milwaukee, but had their best gigs in New York where they took the stage at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s. Unfortunately the records weren’t ready until two weeks after they left Austin, so the band wasn’t able to leave their physical mark across the country, although issues of Austin fanzine, Sluggo, where Ty was featured as the centerfold, or rather, Slugmate, were. Another mini tour soon after that brought them out to Hollywood.
When they returned home, the scene at Raul’s was really taking force. Countless bands had sprung up including the Big Boys, Dicks, Standing Waves, F-Systems and many others. The crowd loved The Next and they became somewhat of the Raul’s house band. However, Skip ended up leaving around this time as the band collectively decided without his approval that they'd bring in a second guitar player. When he showed up to play and saw someone else in the band, he immediately walked away.
This began a constant rotating cast of members. Davy Jones (from The Ideals, later in the Hickoids) joined the group, then Lee Shupp split after playing a show in New Orleans, citing the cause as internal strife and not being happy with the band’s new direction. Arthur’s brother Richard (who played in the Ideals with Davy) then came in to fill the bass void and another EP was made called Kick Ass, which has an entirely different feel than the first 7”. Essentially the band had become the Ideals with Ty singing. Further changes continued including Jim Drummond (International Broadcasters/Standing Waves) having a short stint as well as many others coming and going until the band finally ceased to exist.
Ty moved to California for a while and has released solo records. He’s currently playing in a band called SA Creeper. Skip stopped playing music after a while and got a degree in Biology. He is more or less retired now but occasionally produces and plays music. Lee Shupp has made a successful living out on the west coast. While Richard Hayes has since passed, his brother Arthur resides in prison. Davy Jones went on to play in the Hickoids and numerous other bands including the reunited Dicks in recent years.
