The Mosquitos – The Ritz – Winter, 1985

As the story goes, this Huntington/Northport, Long Island band formed when a band called Quisp broke up. Leader Vance Brescia had some songs he wanted people to hear, so he got a few friends together to perform them. Those friends included ex-Fabians’ Steve Prisco (guitar) and Iain Morrison (bass), as well as Pat Bishow (drums). Soon Tony Millions would join on organ (and occasional lead vocals) and the lineup was complete.

The Mosquitos took off quickly. The band got excellent press and built up quite a local following. Soon, they gained a ton of fans on NYC’s burgeoning garage scene, despite the fact that their roots were more Mersey/60s pop.

Sometime early in ’84, Bishow left and Pete Bross filled in on drums until the band found permanent replacement Mitch Towse. (Bross would come back for the last couple months of the band’s existence a couple years further on.)

This is hardly the place for a full Mosquitos’ history. At some point, perhaps, I’ll write one. I’d prefer that happen as part of a Mosquitos’ CD retrospective, but one doesn’t appear to be forthcoming. (Note: Yours truly and an old friend would love to help change that.)

This show features The Mosquitos at what some fans consider their peak. Others would argue that once they started doing “That Was Then, This Is Now” – the song that The Monkees covered for a Top 20 hit a year later – the band had already turned away from their most exciting material. Regardless of which opinion you subscribe to, I think this recording shows The Mosquitos really had it together as a live band. Yes, they wrote great pop songs. Sure, they were good musicians. However, the thing that always blows my mind is the vocals. Listen to “Changed My Mind” and you’ll hear a fine example.

This particular show comes to us in a couple parts. I’d originally wanted to present my copy of this show. Unfortunately, the cassette was mangled sometime in the past 21 years. A week or so ago, however, I lucked into another copy when Eamonn Bowles (now of the Martinets) sent me a copy of his old band, The Martinets, live at Max’s Kansas City. That band included both Steve Prisco and Iain Morrison, who’d get going with The Mosquitos not long after The Fabians folded. The disc Eamonn sent included The Mosquitos at The Ritz in addition to The Fabians’ material. And suddenly I knew I was in business.

One problem: Since Eamonn wanted to also include some other cool stuff on the CD, his copy only included the regular set. I wanted the whole thing, so I asked my pal Bill Jones for the encore tracks. You’ll notice there’s a difference in sound quality. Hey, such is life. You’re getting the whole show.

You’ve probably also noticed that there are breaks between the songs. That’s the way they came to me on CD. If my old tape had worked, you’d've heard all the in-between chatter, too. On the positive side, you’ll probably hear other Mosquitos’ live shows over time, as Bill and I have a bunch of other cassettes.

Thanks to the following people for making this possible: Eamonn Bowles, Bill Jones, and Steve Prisco.

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