BRUCE MOODY (Houston, TX)
Fresh Out! EP
No label, 1982
Bruce Moody moved from Charlotte, NC to Houston, TX in 1976 and immediately joined a group called Circus that had a rotating cast of characters including guitarists Richard Morant, Danny Kristensen, and drummer Dick Ross. Ross would later go on to play in Austin bands the Vendettas and F-Systems before a stint with Joe “King” Carrasco. In 1978 Bruce hooked up with a prog-rock band called Artisian who were primarily doing original material.
By the early 80s Bruce began working on his own home demos using a Sony 4-track reel to reel. He wanted to get his favorite musicians from several different working bands in Houston to work on a recording session with him. After handing out his demo tapes, he was able to corral his old pals Danny Kristensen and Richard Morant as well as drummer Rick Richards. They got together one evening to go over four of his songs and then they all went into Wooden Studios and laid down the basic tracks in a single night. Bruce went back and did 90% of the overdubs with methods such as banging audio cassette boxes together to make rim shot sounds, clanking aluminum trash can lids, and so forth.
The resulting EP was released under the name Bruce Moody with the title Fresh Out! During the intro of AM Romance, the song playing on the radio is a Bruce original called “Survival.” Interestingly enough, Rick Poss (of Ric Tangle and the Squares fame, who previously played in a band called the Suspects with Rick Richards) played guitar on that track at an earlier session. Bruce played in various side projects with many other notable power pop musicians around that time including Terry Carolan of the True Hearts and in the fall of '82 did some time as a Crown with Joe "King" Carrasco.
Fresh Out! was purely a studio project so copies were placed in record stores in Austin and Houston where they saw moderate sales. Bruce, Rick and Danny decided to form a live act and along with keyboardist Keith Lancaster they became Walkee Talkee. That summer they were offered a stint in Galveston playing at the Seahorse. To better market their record they made new sleeves with the name Walkee Talkee on the front using the same records and inserts as the Bruce Moody version. It wasn’t long before they realized there was a band in New York using the same name which led to them becoming Private Numbers.
Private Numbers lasted through 1991 with Ric Plunk taking over on keyboards. The band saw some mainstream success with around a dozen videos receiving airplay on MTV. The band even had their own cable access show called Vox Pop which ran for a couple years in Houston.
"This Is It" was featured on 2013's Texas power pop compilation album, Radio Ready that was released on Cheap Rewards Records.
THE DEGENERATES (Houston, TX)
Fallout EP
Hit & Run (HR-601), 1981
The members of the Degenerates were barely legal to drive when the band formed at the tail end of 1979. A year earlier, when Tom Kiersted was just 14 years old, his big brother worked at a chain record store and would bring home releases by British groups like the Sex Pistols and the Jam. Immediately becoming fixated with these new discoveries, Tom started expanding his horizons to Devo, Sham 69 and the Clash, a band he somehow talked his parents into letting him see live at the Cullen Auditorium on October 5th, 1979 during their first US tour.
Following the eye-opening performance, Tom picked up a flyer off the ground which advertised the opening of a new Houston record store called Real Records. He worked his way backstage and got three members of the Clash to autograph the back of the flyer. After that, Tom frequently hitched rides to Real Records. The shop was owned by Ronnie Bond of Really Red and quickly became the hub of the Houston punk scene. Tom’s exposure to punk and other styles of music, such as krautrock, increased exponentially after meeting Ronnie.
Kenny Coffman was a couple years older than Tom and was also in attendance at the Clash performance at the Cullen, though they did not meet just yet. Kenny’s early musical influences ranged from the pop stylings of the Beach Boys and Beatles to the swingin’ sounds of Benny Goodman and Texas’ own Bob Wills. His father had actually played in a western swing band in the 1940’s and his brother exposed him to music of the 60s and 70s. When his best friend played him the Ramones “Rocket To Russia” album for the first time in 1977, he thought they were from a different world. He picked up a guitar and started practicing in his bedroom.
Wade Driver was the youngest of the three. Having played in the school’s marching band, Wade’s introduction to punk came via British groups such as Sham 69, Cockney Rejects, Stiff Little Fingers and Eater. He was also very supportive of local groups like the Mydolls, Culturcide, Legionaire’s Disease Band (who opened the Clash show), and of course, Really Red. His father took him to his very first punk rock show in 1979, the Dead Boys at Whiskey River.
In late 1979 Wade was watching a cover band try out for a high school talent show. Someone in the crowd kept yelling for them to do “Holidays In The Sun” and “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Wade introduced himself to the taunting boy in the crowd, who as it turned out, was Kenny Coffman. The two discussed starting a band. Wade and his friend David Garrison had already written a couple songs together, so they decided to all get together in the backyard of Wade’s parents house and work on Sex Pistols and Ramones songs. They quickly realized that bass didn’t suit David so much and they wanted him to just sing.
Soon after, Kenny and Wade approached an unassuming Tom Kiersted and his girlfriend during a show at the Island, the primary punk club in Houston at the time. Being one of the few young punks in the scene, Tom seemed the obvious choice for a bass player in their band. Although he had a lifetime of piano lessons and a short stint playing trombone in junior high, Tom had no experience playing bass. But they insisted it didn’t matter and they’d teach him what he needed to know.
The boys found themselves booked for a party before they even had a chance to rehearse together. With the line-up now consisting of Wade on drums, Kenny on guitar, Tom on bass and David on lead vocals, they made their live debut. Tom had to use borrowed equipment, and having not been able to learn the songs yet, he simply turned the volume down and the gain way up on his amp to impressively fake his way through the set.
Shortly after, David left the group and they continued on as a three piece with all members contributing vocals. The band’s name, The Degenerates, was loosely based on the pseudonym of Eaters’ drummer, Dee Generate, who was also a minor. Wade and Kenny wrote the majority of the band’s material. Being suburban high school students and younger than any of the other bands on the scene, they were still able to see the injustices of the world. They wanted to write political songs that would be taken seriously, all the while maintaining a level of fun.
Once Tom procured his own equipment, he learned the entire set pretty quickly. Really Red and the Mydolls were both extremely supportive of new bands and allowed the Degenerates to headline some of the shows they played together to help them gain exposure. They were able to build a modest, yet devoted local following as they took stage at the Island and the newly opened Joe Starr’s Omni a couple times per month.
The Degenerates worked up a set of around 30 original songs, intermingling them with crowd favorites such as “Boredom” from the Buzzcocks, “In The City” by the Jam, and Joy Division’s “Digital.” They frequently played with Houston bands the Recipients, Hates, DRI, and Culturcide, while also sharing bills with Austin bands like the Big Boys, Dicks and the Stains who regularly made the trek out to Houston. The Degenerates even covered the Dicks’ anthem, “Hate The Police” and eventually earned support slots with nationally and internationally touring bands such as the Angelic Upstarts, Chelsea and Bad Brains.
For Wade’s birthday, his dad financed some studio time so they could record and release an EP. When the boys entered ACA Studios at the end of 1980, they were in good hands with Andy Bradley at the helm. They quickly laid four of their earliest and well-rehearsed songs to tape in one single session and then pressed 500 copies of the 7” at the start of the next year.
Really Red and the Mydolls put together a record release party for the Degenerates and the show ended up drawing the largest crowd the band ever played to during their short tenure. Ronnie carried the single at his store and it received airplay on KPFT and KTRU. It also garnered positive reviews in local and national papers.
But by early 1982 Tom was readying to move to Austin to begin studies at UT. He was replaced by Tom Atkinson, a bass player that Kenny knew from working at Target. As the year went on, musical interests were changing and the scene was headed in a more hardcore direction. By the start of 1983, the Degenerates decided to call it quits. Kenny and Wade continued to play together in a short-lived band called the Other, which was based largely on their admiration for groups like the Jam, Undertones and Buzzcocks.
After that Kenny got married and left his punk ways behind. Wade has continued playing music to this day in groups like the Hickoids, Ideals, Bag Of Hammers and currently Apogee Sound Club out in San Francisco. Tom finally got his degree in the winter of 1989 and has continued making music with others and on his own.
JEMMY LEGGS (Houston, TX)
Fireworks EP
New World (NWR-001), 1981
Terry Sandell knew he wanted to be a musician ever since seeing A Hard Day's Night as a kid. He loved the camaraderie of the Beatles and figured he could emulate that with his brothers Jerry and Dennis. While living in Colorado, they formed a band called Forced Entry with their friend Ron Remington on bass. They played around the Denver/Boulder area for a few years before Terry left for Houston in 1979.
Shortly after his arrival in Texas, Terry fell head first into the punk, new wave and power pop craze that was rampant in Houston. Right after hearing My Aim Is True for the first time, he was lucky enough to catch Elvis Costello perform at the Texas Opry House. Then he got his first taste of the local scene when he stepped into the Rock Island club one night and saw the loud, raw energy of Legionaire's Disease Band, which stuck with him. So he began writing and recording demos in his home studio, eventually convincing his two brothers to come out to Houston to help him put a band together.
Terry came up with his alter ego, Jemmy Leggs, from a book he was reading for his writing class. In Billy Bud, the master at arms was always harassing Billy. Confused, Billy asked an old salt why he was being singled out, to which he replied, "Jimmy Legs is down on you mate." Terry changed the spelling to Jemmy and added the G in Leggs cuz it looked better graphically. It was also suiting since Terry would jimmy his legs while playing guitar.
Terry initially used a no frills approach when doing his own recordings, capturing a clean interpretation of the instruments. But after a while he started experimenting with drones, double tracking, and blending instruments together to make a more punchy sound. By the time they went into a proper studio to record the tracks for their EP, the engineer couldn't even figure out how Terry achieved those sounds. And since he had no real knowledge of the lingo or real understanding of what he was actually doing, Terry couldn't even explain it to him!
To make Jemmy Leggs a complete band for the sessions, Terry brought in Dennis' new wife Renee, who had run sound for them back in Colorado. He taught her the keyboard parts, while Jerry handled drums, Dennis played guitar and Terry sang and played guitar and bass.
The engineer wanted separation between all the instruments, but the result sounded very sterile. Much time was spent mixing, which took away from the spontaneity Terry had envisioned for the record. When they finally received the first test pressing, everything sounded squashed, so they refused it. The next one didn't fare any better; in fact, entire bits of songs were missing! By this point he'd given up trying to make it sound better. 500 copies of the EP were pressed with foldover sleeves that their old bass player Ron had designed. Most were given to local stores to sell and others moved by word of mouth.
As a band, Jemmy Leggs hardly every played out. Besides some private parties, a live radio broadcast and a couple club gigs to showcase the material, Terry's interest was more in the recording and production side of things and took precedence over maintaining a live band. He began working as a studio musician at Wooden Studios in exchange for recording time, and in doing so, made friends with a bass player and drummer that he was working on a session with. He asked if they'd like to play on some new songs he'd written up. They had everything in line to record four more Jemmy Leggs songs when the studio hit troubled times and closed their doors. Unfortunately the session never materialized.
30 years later, the Jemmy Leggs master tapes were resurrected and the songs cleaned up. Finally sounding as Terry had envisioned, “Fireworks” was featured on 2013's Texas power pop compilation album, Radio Ready that was released on Cheap Rewards Records.
Legionaire's Disease Band
Rather See You Dead b/w Downtown
Disease Unlimited (1001), 1979
Jerry Anomie was born in Tennessee but moved to Houston as a young child. Music never appealed to him growing up until a friend of his who worked at a record store played him the Sex Pistols and Iggy Pop. He ended up meeting Iggy soon after that, which helped give him a new outlook on life. Having recently spent five and a half years in prison, he started realizing he didn't have to be a criminal. He could be in a band!
Initially taking on the role of manager for his friend Dick Long's contrived band, The Niggers, Jerry's duties included rallying up musicians and finding them a rehearsal space. It soon became apparent that Dick wasn't actually up for being a front man, so Jerry hopped on board. He continued playing with the group for a few months after that, but since they had no original material to work on, he decided to get a new band started.
In the beginning he had his 14 year old nephew playing his half-a-drumset, Walter Wolf on guitar, and Stormin' Norman Cooper on bass. Norman had no prior experience playing the instrument and mainly just acted the part with his amp turned off. Finally, after several months someone noticed he appeared to putting his fingers in the right places, so they actually powered up his amp!
Jerry realized he had to make a serious go of this in order to stay out of trouble. So he sold all his furniture to get a better rehearsal space and looked for new players. He met a girl named Gwen at a Ramones show and they hit it off right away. She started bringing her guitar and amp over for rehearsals with Jerry and Norman. After stealing guitarist David Tolbert and drummer Craig Haynes from a cover band called Prisoner, Gwen Duke proceeded to quit her job as a supervisor for a telephone company and Legionaire's Disease Band finally became a solid entity.
The band had started off playing songs by the Dead Boys, Richard Hell, Iggy, and of course, the Pistol. But within six months Jerry had written them a 40-minute set of original material fueled by his hatred and rage for the system from his time in the pen.
Jerry was a natural promoter. He'd approach club owners and ask what their slowest nights were, then promise they'd pack the place if they gave them the night. He'd then go into record stores and command the attention of everyone in the place to announce their upcoming shows and leave flyers behind. Before long, the band was drawing big crowds and had built a name for themselves amongst a thriving Houston punk scene that was producing acts like Really Red, AK-47, Vast Majority and the Hates.
Eventually the band felt they were ready to make their way out to the west coast. But first they needed to record some songs because you couldn't get a gig at the Whisky A Go Go unless you had a record out. So in 1979 they went to a studio called Magic Rat. Jerry counted his money as he walked in the door and then told the engineer to give them $120 worth. Sure enough, eight songs got recorded that day!
They self-released the "Rather See You Dead (Than With Wool On Your Head)" single on their own Disease Unlimited Records in a reputed edition of somewhere between 500-1,000 copies. The cover of the record shows a picture of Jerry's grandfather in a casket. It gave Jerry the idea to stage his own funeral as a promotional ploy. So he started calling around to all the big funeral homes to try and rustle up a casket, explaining to them it was to promote a record. Unsurprisingly, he was turned down time and again. But when he promised Sunnyside Funeral Home he'd get their name on the radio, they anxiously took the bait.
Jerry called his friends at KPFT and asked if he could make an announcement on the air. It went something like this: "We are sad to report that Jerry Anomie has passed away. The funeral will be held at Warehouse Records & Tapes this Saturday. The funeral will be brought to you by Sunnyside Funeral Home; they've never had a customer complain!"
It was enough to procure them a casket for an entire week! All the punks came dressed nicely and the girls wore black. Jerry got inside the casket before they wheeled it out. Then Chris Lord of Plastic Idols read his eulogy. The event went over very well. The band played a show in the store and then left the casket in there for a week with records for sale inside of it.
After that, they played one of their most memorable gigs at a country/western biker bar called High Noon Saloon. It was a hot summer night and the place was packed. Jerry went on stage wearing only cut-offs and a Gilley's hat. The bikers didn't take too kindly to the punks being in their bar, so before long they started throwing punches. Seeing no other plausible options, Jerry slipped out of his britches, which forced the owner to yell at him to "cover that thing." Naturally, he used his sacred Gilley's hat, which of course sent the crowd into a frenzy. A guy threw a pitcher of beer at Jerry. He ducked out of harms way and it hit David's amp. So David then proceeded to take off his guitar and bust the guy over the head. A full scale riot erupted and spilled out into the street. Somehow the band escaped unscathed.
After that, they felt it was a good time to head out to California. And as luck would have it, they were able to secure a gig at the Whisky opening up for the Dead Kennedys. Unfortunately, they only got through a couple songs before a riot ensued there. Following the fiasco, they wound up spending the next six months playing the Los Angeles and San Francisco area before heading out to New York for a six month stint there.
Legionaire's Disease Band would continue to travel back and forth for nearly 10 years with the same line-up before finally being derailed by drugs. They had started the band to wake people up, and did a good job of it. But when girls and dope took priority, they ultimately lost their purpose and decided to end it. They played their final gigs in 1988 with Nicki Sicki of Verbal Abuse filling in on bass after Norman and Gwen had left.
In all the time they were together, Legionaire's Disease Band only released one other record, a four song EP in 1985. Their first single had sold out quickly and was repressed by Lunar Lab in an undetermined quantity. Jerry had given them the original 8-song master tape and authorized the repressing of just the two songs for the single. But several years after the band broke-up, Lunar Lab took it upon themselves to release the entire session on LP, despite Jerry's request for them not to. He believes it's not their best work, and in fact, their best material never even got recorded.
After Legionaire's Disease Band, Jerry went on to release an album with his next band, Anomie, which featured Duff McKagen and members of the Cro-Mags and White Zombie. Craig later died of liver cancer and Norman in a car accident. Jerry has plans to record all the songs LDB ever played.
"Rather See You Dead" earned a spot on the Bloodstains Across Texas compilation.
THE SPIES (Houston, TX)
My Radio b/w Bad Girl
Giant Squid (GS 001), 1982
The Spies formed in 1981 with Martin Lockard on guitar and lead vocals, Buzz Keever on bass/backing vocals, and Doug Spinks on drums/backing vocals. Influenced by his favorite recordings of the mid 60s, Martin wrote catchy pop songs with clever lyrics and an emphasis on tight harmonies. Though the majority of their repertoire was original material, the band also incorporated covers of songs from the Who, the Kinks, and even a maniacally sped up version of the Stones "Get Off My Cloud" with Buzz on lead vocals.
Doug eventually left the group and moved to Austin where he joined his brother Steve's band the Dharma Bums. He was replaced by Jeff Hoke, a drummer who had played with Martin in several bands prior to the Spies. This new line up played shows whenever they could get them, sometimes twice a week locally, but they never ventured outside of Houston for gigs. However, they did go to Austin to record a couple tracks with Doug's brother Steve at Earth & Sky Studios.
While messing around in the studio, Steve was tuning a radio dial and happened upon a Mexican station. It was then that they thought it would be a funny touch to add a sound clip of the radio station at the end of the song, "My Radio," which they had just finished recording.
During this time, a woman named Louise Rosen was working on a documentary about the Spies. She filmed them during live performances, rehearsals and in the recording studio for what was to become a short film with the working title of either "Days Of Our Spies" or "The Spies Are Watching You." Unfortunately, a finished product never materialized and the footage has since disappeared.
The Spies self-released their 7" single in July of 1982 in an extremely small run. There are rumors abound that only 100 copies were pressed but none of the members could recollect if that's accurate or not. They played a release party at Joe Star's Omni but had to stop during their set as someone had lit a couch on fire in the back of the club! They received some local press, but shortly after its release popular clubs like the Omni and the Island started closing down and the scene started shifting gears.
As bookings started becoming stagnant, the band eventually ceased to be. While Buzz went on to a corporate lifestyle, Martin and Jeff continued playing in different bands, nodding more in the direction of the blues which would prove to be more lucrative. In the late 80s they formed another band called Blue Flash, who actually released a newly worked version of "Bad Girl" on cassette.
"My Radio" was featured on 2013's Texas power pop compilation album, Radio Ready that was released on Cheap Rewards Records. An unreleased demo song will appear on the second volume of the same series.
