The
Monomen
This article originally appeared in NFH #20 in
the winter of 1991.
It's late October and
the Monomen have just returned from their first significant tour, a road trip that covered
a lot of the northern US and southern Canada. Guitar player and all round good guy Dave
Crider came back with a pocketful of good stories, but this one perhaps serves best as an
introduction to the band:
"Anybody who
reads your magazine probably knows who the Lyres are", he says, "and that's
where we got our name, the Monomen. And, OK, we've all heard the stories that Jeff Conolly
can be an asshole...he's obsessive, etc, etc. Anyway, we're thinking maybe he's going to
show up in Boston, so we put him on the guest list, but he doesn't show up, but we heard
he was supposed to be there. And the next night we played in Providence, Rhode Island, and
we got to the club and the owner said "Are you guys in the Monomen?", and we
said yeah, and he said "Well, I just got a really irate phone call from this guy Jeff
Conolly, and he went on and on and he was mad because we had booked you, because the Lyres
play here all the time, and they're scheduled to play here again, and he said you guys
were just a bunch of fucking hacks, and you're trying to ride on his fame, and he's going
to come down to the show tonight and personally come down here and kick all your
asses." So we put him on the guest list, but he never showed up. We were hoping he'd
show up, but he didn't. So that was the only contact we had with him. And to be totally
honest with you, I would have been disappointed if it had happened any other way. If he
had just shown up and said "Gee, this is really neat, guys" it would have
totally shattered my whole image of him as a human being. I thought that was pretty
funny."
In a way that sums up
the Monomen...they're out there on the road and playing gigs around Seattle churning out
some tasty, tasty songs loaded with fat guitar and cool hooks, yet they're still fans
first. Dave in fact has been running a distribution service for independents in the
northwest (though he has just decided to close it down through lack of time), and their
Estrus Records label has put out a batch of cool records by other deserving bands.
If you want a clearer
idea of where these guys are coming from, well, you can safely file their records with
those by the Lyres, the Nomads, the early Lime Spiders or early Stems, and maybe to some
extent the recent Cynics and Boys From Nowhere. It's music that doesn't necessarily burn
it up for tempos (though they do have their fast ones), but relies instead on tough, hard
guitar courtesy of Dave and Marx Wright, punishing drums from Aaron Roeder and some great
screamer vocals shared by Dave and Marx. Dave Morrisette plays bass.
The band comes from
Bellingham in Washington, a place about 100 miles north of Seattle and about two towns off
the Canadian border. They arose from the ashes of a band called the Roofdogs in 1988.
"That was an all instrumental thing", says Dave. "I guess most people think
of it as a surf band, but it never really was. That seems to be a tag people put on
anything without vocals. Nothing against surf music...I love it...but it basically sounded
like the Monomen without vocals and with keyboards."
"We plugged
around for about three years...I can't remember when we started playing together, but we
started doing the Monomen in 1988. The keyboard player, Josie Cat, was more or less the
spiritual leader of the band, and she joined the Peace Corps and moved to Costa Rica, and
that's when we decided to wrap up the Roofdogs and just figured we might get together
occasionally, Marx, Dave and I, and what happened was that within two weeks we went crazy
because we weren't playing, so we got in touch with Aaron who plays drums, and got the
Monomen together."
"Basically the
way Marx and Dave and I got together was that Dave worked in a record store, and...uh...he
got fired and I got his job and that's how we met! (laughs) We figured out that we liked
the same kind of music and started playing together. Marx is a friend of his from Denver
and had just moved up here. So we started playing together and it just kind of evolved
into what it is now."
"The Roofdogs
had a female drummer, and she had a heart condition which we really didn't know about
until her last show. And she used to get really stressed out during playing...that we did
know. The last show she played at, she came with a heart meter strapped onto her...she'd
just been to the emergency room. It sent this little signal out, I don't know if you've
ever seen it, but they were monitoring her. So we decided we didn't want to kill her, so
we mutually agreed that it probably wasn't a good thing for her to stay in the band. And
then we went through a succession of drummers after that. Then Aaron filled in for a
little while...we had known him for a long time, and he was a big Roofdogs fan and had
been to more shows consciously than we had. So he fit right in pretty quick."
"That song
"Reptile" that's on the album, that was a Roofdogs song that we still play.
There's a version of that on the cassette that the Roofdogs put out...there was only like
300 of those, but there seems to have been enough interest of it that we may put out a
Roofdogs 7". If we get a couple more letters we're going to do it for sure, but I
have no interest in duping any more tapes off. So we'll see what happens."
Bellingham is not the
sort of place that springs to mind as being internationally known for great venues, but
instead strikes one as the kind of town where the only gig opportunities are parties. So
how did they ever get started?
Dave replies:
"When we started playing there was really no place to play. There was one club called
Buck's, and one other alternative band called the Madelins, who since have broken up.
Buck's would let you play on certain nights and wouldn't pay you because they figured that
they were doing you a favor by letting you play regardless of whether you packed the place
out or not. But there was a little club downtown called the Up and Up. They were real
open...if you did all the work they'd let you play. At one point they were a strip
joint...as much of a strip joint as you can have in Bellingham; they had wet T shirt
contests. It's a pretty conservative community hiding under the guise of being extremely
liberal, which is quite hilarious, actually."
"Anyway, they
would let us set our own shows up, and we would bring our amps in and play. And a good
night would be 15 people. A lot of times the guys at the bar would get pissed, because we
were so loud they couldn't hear the TV! Over the years things have changed a bit, and the
Up And Up is really getting to be known as an alternative stop...Mr. T Experience just
played here, and Agent Orange was going to be there, and all the Seattle bands come up
here now. It's not such a dirty word to play in Bellingham now. A slow night used to be 2
people, and now a slow night is 100 people. And there is another place that opened about
two years ago called Speedy O'Tubbs, It's a couple of young guys that are really into
bringing in different kinds of stuff and they're really open to local music, and they help
a lot. And they pay guarantees, so they have brought national acts in...a lot of them.
Usually every other month there is a national alternative act that comes through there.
Agent Orange ended up playing there, the Pandoras played there. It's not like Jane's
Addiction or anything, and that's fine with me, but they basically have a pretty good
booking policy there and they'll try just about anything."
Vancouver is actually
quite a bit closer than Seattle, but it's such a bother to go there that the Monomen don't
do it anywhere near as often as they'd like. The Canadian government has rules set up to
protect local musicians that are really intended more for pro musicians who play as a job,
but these rules get in the way of bands on the scale of the Monomen more than bands at any
other level.
"The message
from the Canadian government is that if you're an artist, and especially on our level,
they're not that interested in you coming up", says Dave. "I know the clubs want
us up there...they call us all the time. And if Canadian bands were any better, then the
people up there wouldn't want us to come up, so they should just lighten up and work on
getting some better bands. It's not the underground bands up there...they're real
supportive. It's what would be the equivalent of the musicians union down here. They're
seasoned pros and they work for union scale and all this bullshit. As a result, the first
time we went to Canada it was $50 to get our work permits to go across the border. The
second time we went it was raised to $75. Last time we went up there with the Cynics it
was $150."
"So in order to
play up there you've got to get a club to guarantee you so much money that a lot of times
you might break even, which is cool, but the clubs are going "Woah!". It's hard
for them, too. It doesn't affect somebody like Bon Jovi...because he pays $150, too, when
he goes across the border. He doesn't pay any more. It's $150 for your entire band. So if
you've got semi trucks and you go across the border it's $150, and it's the same if you're
the Monomen or Mudhoney. So we don't go to Canada nearly as much as we'd like to, and that
is the reason."
"For that
matter, in Canada the duty is ridiculous, so it's hard to even get your records up there
if you have records. When we were in Toronto on our recent tour we saw a copy of our album
in Sam The Record Man, which I guess is the Tower of Canada, for $20. That's ridiculous!
Because we know we charged the distributor that got it $4.50, so by the time duty and
everything else is slapped on it the people up there have to pay $20. They do, but it
makes me feel very funny to walk in and see something like that for $20. Actually, the
British imports up there are cheaper than the American imports."
The band's recently
concluded tour worked out really well and had a lot of memorable gigs on it. Half the tour
was with the Cynics; the Monomen had helped the Cynics set up a series of gigs between
Bellingham and Oregon and the Cynics returned the favor helping the Monomen with a support
slot on their eastern tour. Their first show with the Cynics was in a 2,000 seat hall in
Buffalo that was close to full; by far the biggest crowd the band had played to. Perhaps a
little overexcited, the band reached for their volume controls. The sound man later told
them that the sound meter showed them at 125 dB, a level that most scientists and audio
engineers would classify as "pretty fucking loud".
Not all the
subsequent dates were played to so many; in Chicago they did a show to only a handful of
people, and since they got paid from the door, they made almost nothing. But Dave still
recalls the show positively because the band played well and a couple fans came up to them
afterward and said they'd driven over a hundred miles to see them. "If you have a
great show, who cares?", says Dave. "It was wonderful...everybody there dug it
and the club was fantastic. We'll remember that one for a long time."
The Monomen's Stop
Draggin' Me Down lp has been getting some positive attention as a result of the tour,
but Dave has recognized how difficult it is to be your own record company's president. As
the tour progressed, demand for the record grew and orders piled up at Estrus World
Headquarters. But since the Estrus staff was out touring the seamy underworld, the orders
just sat. Now Dave is trying to dig out from underneath it all.
Estrus was originally
formed to be the label for the Monomen's records. Before they did their "Burning
Bush" single, they sent out demo tapes and Greg from Get Hip wanted to release it,
but they decided to do it themselves. "I've always wanted to do that type of
thing", says Dave. "It became pretty apparent after we put it out that we were
capable of doing it, and then we saw other things around that we felt needed to
happen...the Sonics tribute being one of them. And other bands that we really liked that
obviously other labels around here weren't going to have any interest in because they just
didn't fit the mold that those labels were looking for. So we decided to start putting
other things out. So that's where we're at now."
Most small labels
eventually lose their enthusiasm after running into problems with distributors, who are
essential for getting the records into all the shops, but also are notoriously bad about
paying. Typically a distributor will take your records from you and promise to pay for
them in 90 days. But when the 90 days is over, some of them require persistent nagging via
telephone to get any money back. Not all are like this, but there are enough to make it a
miserable situation, and one that can cost a lot of money. "I can see why so many
small labels just give it up or go under", says Dave. "It's really tough because
other people are playing with your money. One thing that works in our advantage is that
we've made a commitment to putting things out on a regular schedule. So if people want our
stuff they've got to pay us, and if they don't pay us they don't get it."
"The funny thing
is, and this is hilarious, a guy from (a prominent New York area distributor) came down to
see us when we played in Hoboken. He was a big fan, loved the show, and said your record's
in our top ten and we came down here and want to talk to you about exclusive distribution.
It's like one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing. He was real sincere, and we
just had to be flat out honest with him. It's like "Geez, guys, you owe us all this
money and this is just too hilarious. I'm trying not to laugh in your face. I appreciate
your support and I'm glad you like us, but gosh. WHY DON'T YOU PAY US!""
"I really
believe that every band that's doing this kind of stuff should put out their own record. I
think they should give it a shot or at least be totally intimate with the process and know
what's going on. Because it's easy for them to get confused. We haven't had this problem,
but I had a buddy that was really into a band down in Seattle, and he said "Hey look,
I really like you guys, I got some money, I'm going to put out your record. Let's work on
it together." So the records come out and they stick to their agreement and he gives
them the singles that they wanted, and then they think that he's ripping them off. And
there's this big argument, and it's like: you guys don't even understand what this guy has
gone through to put your record out. He's your friend, he's not ripping you off. He hasn't
made a penny. But they see that the record's selling really well and all this other stuff.
And it's not that they're bad guys, but they just don't understand that there's all these
other expenses and all the hard work that goes into releasing something like this."
"It's
frustrating for me; I have no tolerance for it. I can understand it, because there's no
way you can guess until you start getting into it. You don't get rich doing it. You do it
because you feel like it needs to be done and you love doing it. You don't do it to get
rich. And that's what people don't understand. You get in the public eye, and people
equate that success with being inspired monetarily or something. I don't get it. It's kind
of the way this society works, but it's like, no. You've gotta love what you're doing and
feel like you need to do it, because that's where the reward is, is in doing it."
"For me, if I
can expose other people to the music that we put out, I feel really good about it. There's
bands on this box set (the Estrus Lunchbucket, which will be out soon - ed) that I feel
really good about. One of them is the Rocket Scientists, which I found out about through
your magazine, and I think they're great. I read the review and I wrote them and got the
single and said, yeah, this is great. So they've got a cut on the box set and hopefully
some other people will pick up on that and it will help those guys out quite a bit,
because I would imagine it's not a mecca in Delaware for what they're doing."
For the future, the
Monomen are planning a lot of touring. They'll be heading to Europe in the winter, but
before they go they're going to work on some new material for an ep that they want to put
out as their next record. The goal is to get Amigo Records house producer 4 Eyed Thomas to
help them with it, either in Sweden during their tour, or by having him come to the US.
Dave has known Thomas under his real name for quite a while, since they'd been swapping
records by mail, but only fairly recently did he find out that the fellow that he knew as
Ulf Lindquist was actually the guy who produced all those great Amigo records, as well as
records for bands such as the Maniacs. He'd be just the right person to bring out the best
in the Monomen, so they're really hoping that something can be worked out.
When Dave comes back,
hopefully he has a whole new set of stories he can tell, because he's already got some
good ones. We'll close with another Lyres tale that he spins:
"Did I ever tell
you what happened in Seattle on that "Promise Is A Promise" tour? Well, I guess
Conolly had been riding Dave Bass really heavy...there were a few songs that Dave played a
little different than Jeff liked them, and we saw it get pretty heated up in Vancouver. It
was "Soapy" actually. And they're doing the intro to "Soapy" and I'm
not exactly sure...our drummer told me what he was doing different; it was like he was
playing 16s on the high hat instead of 8s or something so minor. And Conolly was yelling
at him, so after about 30 seconds up in Vancouver Bass gave up and played it the way
Conolly wanted him to."
"In Seattle he
was a little more stubborn and Conolly was a little more drunk. He was just going on and
on yelling and spitting and we could hear him over the stage mics. This went on for two
minutes to a packed house with him yelling at this guy, and finally Dave just stopped
playing. And Conolly says: "You never fucking stop in my show. You never fucking
stop.""
"So they argued,
pushed and shoved and Dave got up and was going to go over and have some words with him,
and when he got up his drum stool got kicked out from underneath him. Then he went to sit
down, and he fell on his ass, which embarassed him. I don't think he felt for a minute
that Conolly had kicked the stool out from under him, but that was the final insult; a
packed house, you just get bitched out, and then you fall on your ass. So he picked up his
drum stool, yelled at Conolly, and Conolly turned around. He was about four feet away, and
Dave, who's a very big guy, threw his drum stool feet first into Conolly's face. Fourteen
stitches. The best part is he stumbles back...by this time about half the people have left
the club. They're just too freaked out, with blood everywhere, but he turns around and
staggers over to the microphone and goes (assumes a real whiney voice) "I don't know
what his problem is man, I just wanted to play this song right for you guys". Then he
yells "1-2-3-4" and they start the song again. And I swear, he goes right back
into Bass's face and they argue for another 30 seconds about how he's not playing it
right. So they did the song and about four more other ones with blood all over the place
and quit, and went back into the alley and beat the shit out of each other. Then they went
to Portland the next night, and I said no way, I'm not going to go to Portland to see
somebody die. But everybody else in the band went down and it was an amazing show, but
then I heard that every other show on the tour sucked."
Grab yourself a copy
of the Monomen's lp. You won't be sorry.
Postscript:
In
2001 I got an e-mail from Jeff Connolly of the Lyres. He'd read this
article and objected strongly to what Dave Crider had to say. The
exchange that resulted between us was hysterically funny, so I thought I'd
reproduce it here:
Jeff's opening salvo from Oct. 12,
2001, under the subject title LYRES "STORY" IS TOTALLY BOGUS
THAT'S NOT WHAT
HAPPENNED AT ALL......BUT GUYZ LIKE YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THE TRUTH BEING
THE REAL DEAL AND ACTUALLY A LOT MORE INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING THAN
THE MANUFACTURED BULLSHIT THAT APPEARS. THE FACT THAT THE GROUPS LYRES AND
DMZ ARE GOING STRONG IN THE NEW MILLENIUM SAYS A HELL OF A LOT MORE THAN
ANY "HERESAY" BASED GARBAGE. YOUR "STORY" IS WEAK, IT'S TOTALLY
MUNUFACTURED, NOT TRUE AND MOST OF ALL.....IT'S BOORING
POKEMONOJEFF
P.S. NONE OF THE SHOWS SUCKED ON "THAT" TOUR BACK IN 1988
FUCK YOU
I responded as follows:
I had to look for a
while to figure out what story you were talking about...a lot of that
stuff was written 14 years ago. I guess you are talking about the Monomen
story. I have to point out that all I'm doing is quoting what Dave Crider
told me. And it's not particularly easy when you are a one man
organization running a fanzine...doing the interviews, writing the
articles, doing the layout, handling the printing and dealing with
distribution...and doing it in your spare time while you work 40 hours a
week at a full time job...well, it's pretty damn hard to track down every
single individual mentioned in every interview and check their side of the
story. I mean, how the fuck was I supposed to get hold of you? It's not
like you're in the San Diego White Pages.
I've liked the Lyres and DMZ a lot across the years and have most of your
records in my collection. I've seen you guys play live, and I've even
spoken with you (quite pleasantly in fact) in the record shop you worked
in in Boston a few years ago. I've written positive reviews of your
records and shows, and I think I've done more than most people for the
kind of music that you and I both love. "Buried Alive" is one of my all
time favorite songs by any Boston band.
I have to respectfully disagree with your view that my article was
"manufactured". I interviewed Dave Crider, he said the things I quoted
him as saying, and I wrote the text around it based on having heard their
records and liking them. And if it was so boring, why did you read it to
the very last word?
So if you have time to write something coherent, why don't you tell me
your side of it and I'll add it to the Monomen article. But I'd submit
that if you excercise the same diplomatic skills you've demonstrated in
the e-mail below, that most readers will tend to believe Crider's version
of events.
Best regards,
Steve
To which Jeff responded:
I SEE, DAVE CRIDER,
YOUR HERO, DEMONSTRATES DIPLOMATIC "SKILLS" THE "STORY" IS MANUFACTURED
WEATHER BY YOU , FOR PUBLISHING IT, OR DAVE CRIDER, FOR "MAKING IT ALL
UP", WHICH HE DID, IS NOT THE TRUTH. YOU HAVE A RESPONSABILITY TO
PRINT FACTS WHICH ARE AT LEAST AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET , TO THE TRUTH. AS
FOR GETTING IN TOUCH WITH ME, TRY TAANG CIRCA 91, TRY MATADOR CIRCA 1998,
TRY NORTON CIRCA 95, THEN REY TAANG AGAIN CIRCA 93...
.
YOU DIDN'T TRY.....ANY OF THOSE LABLES WOULD HAVE EASILY GOTTON YOU IN
TOUCH WITH ME. AGAIN, YOU DIDN'T TRY. I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO STRESS THIS
POINT, I DON'T NEED YOU!! I DON'T NEED YOU AS A "FAN OF THE LYRES!!!
I DON'T CARE IF YOU
LIKE OUR RECORDS, BECAUSE YOU ARE A "RUMOR" SPREADER. YOU ARE ON THE
SAME LEVEL AS THE BOMP CHAT ROOM. STICK WITH CRIDER, STICK WITH ESTRUS AND
GROUPS ON THAT LEVEL. MY DRUMMER ON THAT TOUR, WAS ON MEDICATION AND THEN
STOPPED TAKING IT DURING THE TOUR. HE WAS HAVING A GREAT DIFFICULTY
ADAPTING TO THE STRESS OF A 6 WEEK TOUR AND HE "KNEW" HOW TO PLAY THAT
SONG CALLED "SOAPY" THAT NIGHT AT THE CENTRAL TAVERN, HE "CHOSE" NOT TO
PLAY IT "CORRECTLY".
I'VE GOT "NEWS" FOR
YOU IN FANZINE LAND. KNOWING HOW TO PLAY THE DRUM BEAT "CORRECTLY" IN THE
GREAT SONG, CALLED "SOAPY", IS!! THE WHOLE!! POINT OF THE SONG.
DAVE BASAS "KNEW" HOW TO PLAY IT THR RIGHT WAY. IT HAD BEEN REHEARSED,
REHEARSED AND THEN TESTED OUT AND "BROKEN IN" ON THE 1ST 2 WEEKS OF THAT
TOUR, LEADING UP TO THE CENTRAL TAVERN GIG. HE "CHOSE" FOR WHATEVER
REASON, TO "NOT" PLAY IT RIGHT. THE BEGGINNING OFV THE SONG, THE INTRO,
IS!! IS!! THE DRUM BEAT. EITHER YOU GET IT RIGHT FROM THE BEGGINNING
OF THE SONG, OR THERE'S NO!! REASON TO GO FURTHER. HE KNEW THAT, WE'D
"BEEN THERE" BEFORE. THAT NIGHT HOWEVER, HE SNAPPED, AND HE TRIED TO
KILL ME WITH HIS DRUMMER'S THRONE. I WAS NOT!! DRUNK, I HAD MAYBE 3 BEERS
SO FAR. HE NEARLY TOOK MY FUCKING EYE OUT, AND I HAVE THE SCAR13 YEARS
LATER TO PROVE IT.
WE CONTINUED TO DO
THE SET. ONE THING IS RIGHT, ABOUT HALF OF THE PRE-NIRVANA PUSSYS OF
SEATLLE PROBABLY DID WALK OUT, BUT NOT BECAUSE OF ME GETTING "KILLED" ON
STAGE, NO, IT WAS BECAUSE THE DRUMMER WAS NOT OUR REAL DRUMMER, OUR GUITAR
PLAYER WAS NOT OUR REAL GUITAR PLAYER, OUR BASS PLAYER WAS A TOTAL LAST
MINUTE FILL IN.
THAT WAS ALMOST, THE
VERY LAST GASP OF THE LYRES GROUP IN THE 1980'S. ITV WAS THAT NIGHT
IN CENTRAL TAVERN, THAT "DID ME IN", AND CAUSED ME TO "KILL MYSELF" BY
MOVING TO SAN DIEGO FOR 1 1/2 YEARS AS A KIND OD SELF-IMPOSED SUICIDE BY
ESELF IMPOSED EXILE.
EVERYBODY DOES THAT AT ONE TIME IN THEIR STUPID LIVES. IDIOTS LIKE
CRIDER EXIST ON A MUCH LOWER LEVEL, I CALL IT THE ESTRUS LEVEL.
YOU DON'T HERE ABOUT
THE MONOMEN ANYMORE, ALL THEIR RECORDS WERE NOT EVEN APPROACHING MEDIOCRE
AT THEIR "BEST". THE FACT THAT YOU ENJOY THEM , AND ENJOYED INTERVIREWING
HIM SAYS SO MUCH ABOUT YOU AND WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM. WE KILLED THE
"NEXT NIGHT" AT SATYRICAON, I BUSTED OPEN A FEW OPF MY BRAND NEW STICHES
THAT NIGHT. AND THE REST OF THE TOUR, WHILE NOT ALWAYS GREAT, WAS A
HEROIC EFFORT. I HAD ANOTHER 4 WEEKS TO GO WITH MR. DISTORTION
RECORDS/DAVE BASS, AND HE WAS AN ASSHOLE, THAT'S A FACT. HE WAS A "BABY"
HE "DROVE" ME OUT OF AND AWAY FROM BOSTON, ALMOST PERMANENTLY.
THAT'S HOW MUCH I NEEDED TO GET AWAY.
NOW I'M MUCH OLDER, AND I'M OVERWEIGHT RIGHT NOW, BUT MY SHOWS WITH DMZ
AND LYRES ARE SOME OF THE BEST IN THE GROUPS 25/22 YEAR HISTORY. YOU KNOW
ALL THOSE RECORDS THAT HAVE "CHICKS" ON THE SLEEVE, OR SOME SLEAZY
STRIPPER LIKE IMAGE ON THE COVER. THAT'S ESTRUS, THATS CRYPT, THAT'S
SATAN, THAT'S NORTON, THAT'S ALL THOSE "GREAT" GARAGE ROCK RECORDS IN YOUR
COLLECTION, AND I KNOW IT. WELL, YOU SHOULD KNOW, I MADE A RECORD LIKE
THAT ONCE BY ACCIDENT IN 1986, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN "EL PRODUCTO"
CIGAR BOX IMAGE WITH THE CHICK HOLDING THE LYRE ON THE COVER. IT WAS A BAD
COVER. IT WAS A BAD IMAGE. WHEN NORTON TRIED TO STICK ME WITH THE
"STRIPPER" 7" 45 SLEEVE ON MY ALBUM, I TOLD THEM TO FUCK OFF. TOSE RECORDS
ARE ALL!! ALIKE!! THEY'RE ALL THE SAME!! YOU GUYS WITH YOURV
FANZINES CAN FANTASIZE ABOUT THEE HEADCOATS, THE MORLOCKS, THE MONOMEN,
BILLY CHILDISH AND ALL THAT OTHER "PUNKY"/"RAUNCY" STUFF ALL YOU WANT!!
NOBODY'S STOPPING YOU!! THAT'S WHAT YOU LIKE AND THAT'S FINE. IT
DOESNN'T MATTER, THAT ALL THESE RECORDS SUCK, HAVE NO REAL LASTING
QUALITY.
I WOULD ACTUALLY PREFER, IF YOU BURNED, BURIED, SMASHED OR GAVE AWAY ALL
THE DMZ AND LYRES RECORDS THAT YOU OWN. IF YOU READ FANZINES LIKE THIS, I
DON'T CARE ABOUT GOING TO FRISCO, L.A. OR SEATTLE EVER AGAIN. I
TRIED TO HAVE A BAND THAT COULD AT LEAST "APPROXIMATE" THE "LYRES SOUND",
OR THE "LYRES ENERGY" WHEN WE PLAYED CENTRAL TAVERN IN SEPT 1988.
THE DRUMMER WAS SABOTAGING THAT GOAL, THAT NIGHT. IT HAD NOTHIMNG!! TYO DO
WITH WHAT CRIDER OBSERVED THAT NIGHT. HE LIVES IN A FANTASY "WORLD" WHERE
ALL ALBUMS HAVE STRIPPERS AND SLEAZY IMAGES OF THEIR COVERS. THAT'S FINE,
FOR HIM. LIKE I SAID, IT'S VERY, VERY BOORING.
POKEMONOJEFF/LYRES/DMZ/........OCT. 2001
Before I even read this e-mail,
within an hour he came back with another:
WHEW!!!
I FEEL BETTER!!!
WOW, I REALLY NEEDED TO GET THAT OUT OF MY SYSTEM!!!
NO, YOU'RE RIGHT, BEING DIPLOMATIC IS FINE........I'M GLAD, WE GOT TO MEET
AT THE RECORD STORE.....IF I WAS ACTING IN A POLITE AND "NORMAL" BEHAVIOR
THAT DAY, THAT'S THE JEFF CONOLLY GUY. POKEMONOJEFF, GETS "ANGRY" AND
"LASHES OUT", IT'S ALL JUST ENTERTAINMENT......
ABOUT YOUR 40 HOURS A WEEK.....FEEL GOOD ABOUT HAVING THAT JOB, MY FRIEND.
EVEN IF IT TAKES YOU AWAY FROM YOUR FANZINE AND LABLE. I'M BETWEEN
JOBS AND IT REALLY SUCKS. I LOST MY LAST POSITION BECAUSE OF USED RECORD
STORE TURF ISSUES, AND I'M REALLY DOWN ON THAT TRADE RIGHT NOW.
OF COURSE I'M GLAD YOU LIKE THE GROUPS DMZ AND LYRES. I'M HOPING
YOU CAN GET A HOLD OF GREG SHAW AT
greg@bomp.com
AND GET YOURSELF THE NEW DMZ "LIVE AT THE RAT" I'D SEND YOU ONE IF HAD A
SPARE, BUT THINGS ARE TIGHT.
POKEMONOMAN WAS BEING HIMSELF, BUT I DON'T WANT YOU TO SMASH OR GIVE AWAY
YOUR LYRES RECORDS. I NOW UNDERSTAND THE STEVE GARDNER "STORY"
DON'T TAKE POKEMONOMAN'S CRAP PERSONNALLY, BECAUSE IT ISN'T. IT'S A
COSTUME I GET IN AND OUT OF WHENEVER I NEED TO. THERE WAS A LOT OF
HURTFUL ANGER AND FRUSTRATION LEADING UP TO AND FOLLOWING THAT NIGHT IN
SEATTLE, AND TO READ BOZO CRIDER'S "HUMOROUS ACCOUNT" OF WHAT HE THINKS "HAPPENNED"
THAT NIGHT, TOTALLY ENGAGED POKEMONOMAN'S ATTENTION. IT'S TRUE THOUGH, THE
MONOMEN HAVE ALWAYS SUCKED. THERE WAS A SMALL VACUME IN THE GARAGE ROCK
SCENE AROUND THE END OF THE 80'S AND THEY SHOWED UP LIKE THE TALIBAN IN
AFGHANISTAN. NOBODY HAS EVER CARED ABOUT THOSE YO-YO'S IN BOSTON, FINE.
NO.....WE HAVE THE SWINGING NECKBRAKERS INSTEAD!!!
I WANTED TO
ASK.... DOES NKVD RECORDS STILL PUT OUT 7" 45S?????? I'VE GOT A KILLER
GARAGE/PUNK SINGLE BY LYRES/THEE HEADKOTEXES SPLIT "A' SIDE THAT DIONYSYS
HAS PUT AN OFFER OUT ON, BUT, HE CAN'T EVEN HALFWAY REACH MY
RECORDING/MIXING/MASTERING COSTS. WHICH WERE ADMITTEDLY, WAY TOO MUCH AT
1,000.00 BUT, MAN IT'S A GREAT RECORD. WOULD YOU WANT TO HEAR A CASSETTE
DUB?
OKAY, THANKS FOR LETTING ME BLOW OFF SOME STEAM, DON'T TAKE IT PERSONNALLY,
IT'S JUST "BUSINESS" AND POKEMONOMAN'S TEMPER!! ALL THE BEST!!!
POKEMONOJEFF
...and then an hour later still another e-mail:
OH YEAH, I'VE
TAKEN MY MEDICATION
POKEMONOJEFF
So all turned out well in the end,
but it was quite a comical exchange of e-mails and certainly in keeping
with the Conolly legend.
