The Haskells - Pop Art

A. Pop Art


B. Magazine Girls


THE HASKELLS (Houston, TX)
Pop Art b/w Magazine Girls
Spotless (39152), 1981

Kat Osborne started playing rhythm guitar at the age of 14 in her brother’s band, The After Effects. But having been a dancer since the age of three, she loved tap rhythms and was drawn to percussion. So she bought a Rogers 5-piece drum set and taught herself to play. Her first drumming stint was in a British rock cover group called Nasty Habits. When musical tastes began to differ, she wanted to start her own band.

So she placed an ad in a local Houston paper and a bass player named George Reiff was the first to respond. They started auditioning guitar players and soon enlisted John Leaf. They came up with the name the Haskells in reference to Eddie Haskell of the TV show Leave It To Beaver.

John, who was from the UK, started writing originals that had an English flavor to them. During their first few shows, the band even played covers of songs by Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, the Jam, Clash, Elvis Costello and other popular British songwriters. But they wanted to put more emphasis on originals, so George started writing as well.

“Magazine Girls” and “Pop Art" were amongst the first songs they wrote, so they quickly made their way out to Loma Ranch in Fredericksburg to record the two tracks. 500 copies of the 7” were pressed, though very few came with picture sleeve due to the cost of printing. The single was put in all the local record stores and sold well.

They still felt something was missing in their music, so John brought in his friend Andy Feehan on keyboards to add depth to their sound. Andy had previously played with John in Herschel Berry’s band, as well as in the Lords with Ronnie Bond and Kelly Younger (who later went on to form Really Red).

By this time John and George became a solid songwriting duo and the rest of the band would put their own spin on each song, creating music that was unique in Houston. They played with local stalwarts like the Judys and Really Red (who they shared a practice space with in a former mortician’s school). Then they started venturing to Austin about once a month where they’d share the stage with bands like Standing Waves, Rattlecats, Explosives and Joe "King" Carrasco, usually at Club Foot.

About six months after their first recording sessions, they went back in the studio and laid down five more tracks for their Fatter And More Modern EP. Overall the band was displeased with the outcome of the record, mainly due to the lack of a producer. They printed 500 copies, but again couldn’t come up with the money for the album art, so generic rubber-stamped sleeves housed the 12” records.

Slash Records took interest in the band at one point, but nothing came to fruition. Then in 1983 George ended up going out to England and playing with the Jags for a short stint before coming back to Texas and playing with the Rattlecats and then Joe "King" Carrasco. During this time, the Haskells tried out another bass player, but Kat and John were no longer having fun and decided to call it quits.

"Pop Art" was bootlegged on a volume of Powerpearls and for mysterious reasons pitched way down, taking a lot of the charm out of the song. The song was given proper representation on 2013's Texas power pop compilation album, Radio Ready that was released on Cheap Rewards Records. 

Nervebreakers - Hijack The Radio

NERVEBREAKERS (Irving, TX)
Hijack The Radio b/w Why Am I So Flipped
Wild Child (WC 1003), 1979

A. Hijack The Radio


B. Why Am I So Flipped?


Inspired by the sound of the Stones, Yardbirds, Kinks, and other staples of the time, Mike Haskins started playing guitar in the mid-60s. He formed several short lived garage bands and then on one fateful day during a performance, his drummer walked off stage and Barry Kooda jump behind the kit in his place. The two continued on in various groups after that until the Army shipped Barry off to Korea in '71.

Around this time, Thom "Tex" Edwards was starting his first bands. All the while, Haskins sauntered on, playing a myriad of different styles in numerous groups. By the summer of '72, drummer Carl Giesecke hooked up with Haskins and they played in a series of bands together before finally connecting with Tex in a new project called Diamonds Forever. Picking up gigs wherever they could get 'em (YMCA's, VFW halls, church-sponsored dances, skating rinks, etc), the band didn't fit into any mold and were outside the confines of mainstream rock.

By early 1975, a new group evolved consisting of Carl, Mike, Tex, Pierre Thompson and Walter Ray Brock. They called it Mr. Nervous Breakdown and they were heavily laced in the style of the Kinks and Troggs. Brock, who played the Farfisa, left soon after the formation. Then Barry, now back from his stint in the Army, came in on guitar. During a night of brainstorming, Mike and Tex came up with the name Nervebreakers as a take on the Troggs lyric "You got me so that my nerves are breaking," as well as a response to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers.

They had a joke about having played every club in town once, mainly cuz it wouldn't go over too well and most places wouldn't ask them back. But they continued to tread on and eventually developed their own crowd. A big catalyst for that was getting to open up for the Ramones when they played the Electric Ballroom in mid-77, and then six months later they got the opening slot for the Sex Pistols at the Longhorn Ballroom during their landmark US tour. Both of those gigs were secured by a new bass player named Clarke Blacker who had taken over for Pierre after he departed due frustration with the band not achieving greater success. Following the Pistols gig, Clarke decided to leave the band and take on more managerial duties and in stepped Bob Childress.

Bands like Dot Vaeth Group, Vomit Pigs, Infants, Bobby Soxx, Skuds and others started coming together and building a scene. Meanwhile, The Nervebreakers started gearing their sound in a more punk direction, though they still had more of a polished style than most of the newcomers since they had been playing together for so much longer.

In March 1978, a guy named Tom Ordon came out to see the band play at what was billed as their farewell gig. He instantly took to them and came on board as their new manager, eventually releasing three Nervebreakers 7"s on his newly christened Wild Child label. The first record, the "Politics" EP, came out that July. It contains four tracks including "My Girlfriend Is A Rock," a comedic tale of love with an inanimate object that later appeared on Bloodstains Across Texas.

1979 was an eventful year for the Nervebreakers. They released their second 7", "Hijack The Radio" b/w "Why Am I So Flipped?" Both this record and their previous one received some airplay on the west coast as well as in Boston and other markets with college stations. So Ordon booked the Nervebreakers a tour out to the west coast that September where they played up and down California. Then in October, they received great exposure opening up for the Clash at the Palladium in Dallas, a venue at which they had previously opened up for the Police.

Also that year, ESR (Electric Slum Records), which was a studio and label run by Bryce Parker, released a collection of songs from Dallas-area bands that recorded in his studio. The Are We Too Late For The Trend compilation LP features songs by bands like the Vomit Pigs, Superman's Girlfriend, The Infants, Telefones, and more. The Nervebreakers recorded three songs at ESR and since each band was only allotted one song for the album, their contribution was "I Love Your Neurosis," while their song "So Sorry" was snuck on by crediting it to the Barry Kooda Combo.

In May of 1980, the Nervebreakers recorded an entire album, which took quite a toll on some of the members. Bob and Mike left the band, then reinforcements were brought in so they could play their planned northeast tour which took them through Boston, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York. The album sat on the shelf and then at the end of the year the band won studio time from a battle of the bands competition.

In March of 1981 they used that studio time to record the songs "Girls Girls Girls Girls Girls" and "I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys," which were released as a single that May. But by that time Barry had decided to move on as well and the band officially broke up. The records, which never fully got distributed, were pressed on blue vinyl and never had a picture sleeve. They were simply housed in a clear plastic sleeve to show the vinyl color. Much of the pressing had stayed in one place until they recently started surfacing. Unfortunately almost all copies have a slight storage warp and the plastic casing proved not prudent for long term storage as it developed a film on the vinyl.

The Nervebreakers LP, titled We Want Everything, finally saw the light of day in 1994 when Existential Vacuum officially released it. Get Hip has now re-released the first two Nervebreakers 7"s and will be releasing the third one with a newly designed picture sleeve soon. They also have planned to release a series of unheard demos and other material including a remastered version of We Want Everything, and an album of newly recorded material.

Amatones - Plastic Surgeon

A. Plastic Surgeon


Party Favors (from Boys Of The Universe tape)


Right To Be (from Boys Of The Universe tape)


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 - Too Young To Date

-


A. Too Young To Date


B. Every Time I Ask You Out


Right To Know (From their second 7")


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 - Tonight

A. Tonight


B. Four Dollar Date


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 - Time For Change

A. Time For Change


B. Shake It


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 - Early Warning EP

A. Early Warning


B1. No Judy


B2. Love/Why Not


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.