Los Reactors - Be A Zombie

A. Be A Zombie


B. Laboratory Baby


LOS REACTORS (Tulsa, OK)
Be A Zombie b/w Laboratory Baby
Cynykyl (CY-5-02), 1981

Roger Scott was born and raised in Tulsa. His earliest musical inspirations were rockabilly and surf music but it was after seeing the Beatles on TV that he knew he wanted to play guitar. Following the British Invasion era, Roger opened his mind to psychedelic music and then found influence in the glam sounds of T.Rex, Bowie and the Dolls.

His first group was White Dwarf. They formed in early 1978 and mostly played covers of the Ramones, Sex Pistols and Kiss. After about six months Roger left to form Fast Noise with Dale Lawton and Brian Plummer. Brian eventually left that group to join the Jacks so Darrell Smith took his place on drums and Fast Noise was renamed the Passions.

They played originals as well as covers by groups like the Stooges, Johnny Thunders and the Buzzcocks. In late 1979 or early 1980 they added Tommy Gunn and changed the name to the Reactors. Then Dale left to form the Vindicators and later joined the Bridge Climbers who were previously called the News. The Reactors remained a three piece briefly until Roger asked Joe Christ (AKA Joe Danger) to join the band since he had just parted ways with the New Mysterians.

With Joe in the mix, the Reactors went from having a guitar oriented sound to being more keyboard driven. They worked on original material while still incorporating fun covers into their set. The only place in town to play original music in 1980 was the Bleu Grotto. Prior to that they had to play shows out of town or do gigs in warehouses and garages. When the Grotto opened their doors to original bands, more and more unique Tulsa groups came out of the woodwork.

The Reactors became Los Reactors after discovering other bands were using the name. They built a loyal following locally and played road shows in Kansas City, Fayetteville, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Norman, Dallas, Ft. Worth, etc. They opened for several touring groups and plenty of great regional bands like The Jacks, The Fensics, The Ralphs, and many others.

Chris Stearman and Michael McGee of Cynykyl Records took an interest in the band and offered to record them. They spent a week working on recordings in the late night hours at the Producers Workshop in Oklahoma City. Joe and Roger went back a couple weeks later to mix. Unfortunately Cynykyl didn’t have the finances to press the records, so the band eventually scraped up enough money to do it themselves.

“Dead In The Suburbs” was released in a small run. Having a 45 out helped the band secure more gigs and even earned them some college radio play. They sold copies at independent record stores in the towns they played and some copies were sold by mail order or at shows but most were sent out or given away as promotional copies to clubs, radio stations and fanzines.

They released their second single, “Be A Zombie,” a year later in 1981. The songs were recorded during the same sessions as “Suburbs” and released in an edition of 1,000 copies on Cynykyl. The band had no distribution lined up, no management, no tour offers, and a record deal never came their way. With the music scene moving in different directions and seemingly no way to take things to a higher level, the band finally dissolved.

After Los Reactors, Joe went on to front several bands including G Spot, The Healing Faith, and Bigger Than God. He then became a producer of underground films. Tommy Gunn played with various rockabilly and blues bands. Roger formed a prototype speed metal band called Revenger for about a year and then a black metal/thrash band called Cenotaph, which lasted nine years through several personnel changes and recorded two albums. Darrell Smith joined for the final incarnation of that band.

In 2000, Rave Up Records out of Italy released an LP that included the songs from the singles as well as unreleased studio and live material. A CD version followed in 2004. Los Reactors reunited in 2005, playing a few shows including the Dot Dash Festival in New York. They were scheduled to play a tribute show for Michael Automatic in 2007 but Joe was unable to participate as he was living in Atlanta. The rest of the guys played under the name The Adaptors to avoid any misconceptions. The Adapters continue to play locally with Jim Eason in place of Tommy and with the addition of Ian Scott on keyboards. Joe Christ passed away in June 2009 of a heart attack.

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.

Einstein's Riceboys - Milk Of Amnesia

A1. In Your Yard


A3. The Taung Child


A4. Water Me Down


B1. Soda Jerk


B2. Elevator Ride


Black Fag (From the Civil Rice LP)


EINSTEIN'S RICEBOYS (Milwaukee, WI)

Milk Of Amnesia
Pluto (ER 1633), 1981

Steve Wahlen grew up in Beaver Dam, WI during the golden age of the British Invasion. He got his musical start in a high school cover band that jammed Savoy Brown tunes and “Smoke On The Water” before absorbing the sounds of the Stooges, Velvet Underground, Joy Division, and Throbbing Gristle. He began school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1977 when punk was first making its way to the state. He got to see the Ramones and the Jam and knew that’s what he wanted to do.

Sheldon and Todd Rusch grew up in Wauwatosa, the children of a sports coach. A neighbor turned them onto jazz at an early age. Todd would lock himself in the basement after school for hours on end practicing playing. The brothers ended up moving to Madison to attend school at UW where Todd shared a dorm with Steve Wahlen. During his second semester, Todd answered an ad placed by a funk band that was moving to Florida and needing players. He hooked up with them and relocated to the Keys where he was given a salary and housing for playing top 40 hits six nights a week.

Meanwhile, Steve introduced Sheldon to groups like the Clash and Joy Division. Before long they were writing songs of their own. They started sending tapes of the music they were creating to Todd and tried to get him to move back. After over a year of stable employment he finally returned to Wisconsin.

With Todd in the mix, Sheldon switched from guitar to keyboards and the three became known as Einstein’s Riceboys. Todd brought experience to the band and played both guitar and bass. Sheldon had a knack for lyrics and songwriting and Steve hammered the drums and sang. They spent a year endlessly rehearsing and by the time they emerged to play their first basement show they had developed their own unique sound.

The band moved to neighboring Milwaukee to join its vibrantly growing scene after Sheldon finished school. They played 6-10 gigs a month alongside bands like the Prosecutors and Oil Tasters. Todd did the legwork of designing posters and plastering them on telephone poles. They were able to save up enough money to record and self release an album, a feat that none of the other local groups had managed at that point. Even the most popular bands like the Shivvers and Haskels only released 7”s, not full length LPs.

The Riceboys spent a few hours on consecutives days in Breezeway Studios recording the nine songs that comprised Milk Of Amnesia. They were well rehearsed and able to do everything in one take, layering all the instruments and not doing too many overdubs. The 1,000 copies of the album that were pressed sold out quickly and they started seeing larger crowds at their shows.

It was decided they needed another member to help fill out their sound so they asked a high school senior named KT Rusch to join the band. KT had a wide variety of musical influences. She started playing guitar in middle school but moved over to bass to play in a punky power pop group called the Elevators with her brother. When the Riceboys gave her a copy of Milk Of Amnesia to check out, she loved what she heard and promptly joined the band.

Todd had made connections in South Florida with a couple of wealthy brothers who were looking for a band to test out a new direct-to-digital method of recording using the JVC DAS-90. The brothers expressed interest in doing the next Riceboys album so the band packed up and drove the van down to Miami to do a quick recording session with no overdubs in a practice space. They recorded three live takes of each song and then chose the best versions to assemble the Civil Rice LP. After a standard pressing was made, their record label, QL, did a special Japanese virgin vinyl pressing. They also offered it on chrome and metal cassette as well as compact disc.

The band stayed in Florida for a while to showcase their music to a new audience. Clubs wanted them to play three sets a night so they mixed a wide variety of cover material with their originals including songs by Gang Of Four, the English Beat, and Devo. They even worked up a ska version of “Get Off My Cloud” and threw in some Bowie to keep it interesting. The band made their own fanzine called Camp Six and each member had a column. They’d do reviews and advertise the band. There was a copy machine at the house they were staying at, so they stapled them together and would drop them at record stores.

Civil Rice charted on college stations in the summer of 1983, right around the time the Violent Femmes were breaking into the mainstream. Einstein's Riceboys moved back to Milwaukee to see how things were shaping up there. Soon after, Steve broke his arm in an accident and they had to get another drummer. He continued to sing but the band's progress was derailed. Soon after, the Riceboys ceased to be.

The Cyberphonics - Losers

A. Losers


B. All The Time


THE CYBERPHONICS (Irving, TX)
Losers b/w All The Time
Cyberecords (CYB 1001/1002), 1981

1979 saw the birth of a new Dallas-area band called The Cyberphonics. Drummer Paul Cox and guitar/keyboardist Mike Pierce began collaborating and then recruited their friend Steve Mentzer on guitar and Paul’s brother Glenn on bass. All self-taught musicians, they focused on writing original material.

Their first gig was part of a multiple band bill on March 14, 1980 called “Stars Over Texas,” which included The Telefones, The Doo, Quad Pi, Teenage Queers, and others. Glenn worked as a delivery driver for a local company and struck up a conversation about music with a dock worker named Scott Light. After mentioning the band, Scott asked if he could try out and soon landed the job as lead singer. The five-piece Cyberphonics began playing at punk and new wave spots like the Hot Klub and Metamorphosis.

In 1981, they went to Crystal Clear Studios in Dallas and self financed a quick session that produced two songs, “Losers” and “All The Time.” It took them several more months to come up with the funds to get records pressed. Paul worked in an office supply store so he was able to print the foldover covers and lyric inserts there. He also cut over-sized manila envelopes to house the sleeves and records in a promo package with rubber stamps on the front. Most of the promo packs were sent to labels or radio stations while the rest of the copies were given away to fans.

The band rehearsed five nights a week for hours on end. Tensions began to grow within the band and it was decided to move forward without Mike Pierce. They replaced him with guitarist/songwriter John Churchill who Scott knew from Jr. High. Scott moved over to keyboards and did some guitar parts while he and John shared lead vocals. They changed the name of the band to The Look but that only lasted for a single gig and then they played a couple more shows as The Nu-5. Ultimately, it was decided they could only be known as The Cyberphonics and they changed the name back again.

They acquired talent and business manager Bruce Stover & Associates and he took the band into the studio to record a four-song demo to shop to record companies. BSA told the band not to worry about gigs and concentrate on writing songs. Management eventually took the band to Los Angeles to play Madame Wongs in China Town, Gazzari’s on the Sunset strip, and the legendary Troubadour. On two separate occasions, the band opened for the Romantics. They even got their music to a rep at Geffen, but still, they never got their big break.

The band continued to practice but rarely played in public. BSA took the band into the studio three other times to record more demos, but no other records were released and no major labels came knocking. In 1984, BSA told the band the drumming was the reason they didn’t have a record contract so Paul was fired and replaced by David Lee. The chemistry was lost. John went back to school and before long the band had fully run its course.