Highs in the (Mostly) Mid-80s Volume 2 – Long Island

Host: Blair B.

Long Island is both a wonderful place to live and a tough spot to be. It’s great in that you’ve got beaches (read: beach parties) all over the place. Plus, there are some pretty nice towns – especially on the North Shore, about an hour east of NYC. On the other hand, it’s insulated. One newspaper writer said something like, “Long Island is a terminal destination.” What he meant is that you don’t go through Long Island to get anywhere else; if you’re going there, you’re going THERE. Thing is, people don’t usually go there from other places (except maybe well-to-do urbanites to the Hamptons in the summer.)

Touring bands – especially on the underground level – rarely make it to Long Island. Part of the reason, of course, is that “terminal destination” thing. If you head out to Long Island, you’re going to have to retrace your steps to go somewhere else – unless, of course, you feel like paying for the privilege of sitting on a ferry for awhile. Another reason is, well… Traffic sucks.

There isn’t much give-and-take between Long Island bands and those from New York City. OK, Long Island groups DO go into NYC to play shows. Some even go over quite well. (Two great examples in the mid-’80s were The Mosquitos and The Secret Service, and with good reason.) Few NYC groups, however, journey out to Long Island. In the mid-’80s, I remember The Cheepskates, The Optic Nerve, and, possibly, The Tryfles heading out to Sparks in Huntington. I don’t recall seeing The Vipers or The Fuzztones ever make it out there, though it may have happened while I was at school in Rochester. Certainly you never saw bands like The Chesterfield Kings, Lyres, or The Cynics come out for a visit.

Long Island is also a place like many others in the US: Cover bands tend to rule the day. In the mid-’80s, however, Huntington, Long Island was said to have more bars per capita than any other town in the United States. That meant that bars could distinguish themselves by having original bands. Sparks – managed by The Mosquitos’ manager, Scott “Brother Scotto” Savitt – booked original bands of all sorts. Chelsea’s – later known as New York Avenue – did so, as well. Best of all, there were a couple others that would also book some original entertainment. Add in the fact that the drinking age in New York was only 19 (until December, ’85 when it went to 21) and that the NY state driver’s licenses were unlaminated pieces of cardboard with no picture and, well… You get the idea.

A BIT ABOUT THIS COLLECTION:
Very few of the Long Island bands of the mid-’80s ever released anything. Only The Mosquitos, The Secret Service, The Vindicators, The Sporting Bachelors, and The Melted Americans put out records. Now take out The Mosquitos, because their EP was not an accurate representation of how great a band they were. The Secret Service EP was better, but still not completely representative of their incredible power and presence. The Sporting Bachelors came later, more late-’80s than mid, but are included here simply because they had such a purist garage sound. The Melted Americans… Lotsa recordings, actually! And The Vindicators? I’d be surprised if more than a few people outside of Long Island ever heard that 7″.

A few of the songs you’ll hear in this podcast did get released on vinyl. Those, however, are the exception to the rule. There are even cases where I chose demos over actual vinyl releases, simply because I thought the songs were better. In a few cases, I’ve even used live tracks, either because the bands could no longer find demos or because I thought the songs should be heard.

It can be argued that a few of the bands on here aren’t really garage/’60s influenced and, therefore, probably don’t belong on a Highs in the Mid-80s collection. There are a couple included herein that were more just “original rock’n'roll” than anything else. Still, having known the people in those bands (and seen many of them play), I know for a fact that ’60s stuff figured strongly into what they did. So if some bands sound a bit like early-mid ’80s underground rock’n'roll rather than some sort of purist ’60s stuff, well… Remember that some of the coolest of the new wave bands of the late ’70s/early ’80s were themselves heavily influenced by ’60s stuff. Would I stretch the concept this much for, say, New York City? No. But NYC was a much bigger scene. Perhaps just as relevant is the fact that I grew up on Long Island. These bands are a part of my own background. I want them to be heard.

You’ll notice that there’s relatively little on the “snotty garage” side. True, you’ll hear a bit of that, but the Long Island bands were a bit more varied.

BAND NOTES:

The Sporting Bachelors – Cry in the Night
This is an example of stretching the concept, as this came out in ’89. Still, they’d been doing it for awhile. Based in Huntington, they included ex-members of The Phase I Psychotics. This is one of the harder garage bands to come out of Long Island. Various people close to this project suggested they should be left off, due to issues many involved had with a certain member. The final decision was made to include them simply because they fit the (stretched) concept.

The House Pets – Wasn’t That a Drag/Wasting Time
As far as I can remember, I saw The House Pets a grand total of once. It was the “Summer Beach Party” show at Sparks in Huntington. Coincidentally, that was also my only experience seeing The Wind and Abandon Here. The difference was that four years later I’d get to know guitarist Evan Shore as a member of The Voodoo Dolls, a band I spent many nights hanging out with in the late ’80s/early ’90s. Add in the fact that original Mosquitos’ drummer Pat Bishow was in the band, as was bassist Mike Stark, editor of Trash Beat fanzine (my inspiration for getting involved in the ‘zine world) and you’ll understand why their name has resonated with me all these years. The House Pets also featured Tom Bwana on guitar and, before Pat, Marc Solomon on drums. Mike and Evan had gotten together in The Press before that, with one-time Immortal Primitive Adam Greiss on drums. Mike would go on to form Stinky & the Skunks. Pat would make low-budget movies (see notes on The Mosquitos in episode 1). Evan would go to school in Boston and form The Pets, then join The Queers (at the same time as JJ Rassler) before starting The Voodoo Dolls. After the V. Dolls came The Nines, and now Muck & the Mires.

The Press aka The New Press – Catholic Dance (live at Sparks)
Guitarist Evan Shore didn’t have any studio stuff by this most ancient of his bands, so he sent me this live track from Sparks. The rhythm section consisted of bassist Mike Stark and drummer Adam Greiss, who are detailed elsewhere in these notes.

The Mosquitos – Hang/Quit It/Waterloo Sunset (live at Folk City)
“Hang” and “Quit It” were two of the band’s earlier numbers and, as such, feature Pat Bishow on drums. “Hang” remains one of my all-time favorite pop songs. “Quit It” was covered live by The Secret Service a few years later. “Waterloo Sunset” comes from the show the group did at Folk City. In honor of the old Folk City “no electric guitars” policy, The Mosquitos put together an almost completely different set, featuring covers, some Vance Brescia songs that were usually just part of his Wednesday night solo act, and some extremely different arrangements of a few originals. (Most fans know the recorded version of “Darn Well”, but the one they cooked up for this show was something utterly different.) Ray Davies once said that “Waterloo Sunset” wasn’t a great song, just a fantastic record. I’d say this proves him wrong. For more info on The Mosquitos, see the first NYC episode of Highs in the Mid-80s.

The Secret Service – It’s All Happening Here/What’s Goin’ On?
As I listened to It’s All Happening Here (Snap) – the Secret Service comp put together by the band’s (and my) good pal Bill Jones some years back – last night, it hit me all over again how damn great they were. Picking songs was almost impossible. Luckily for me, they played NYC so often that I feel completely comfortable putting them on the planned NYC Volume 2 episode of this podcast. (For that matter, Jim Gange stated in an email chat that he always considered them a New York City band that just happened to live on Long Island.)

The group actually formed in the summer of ’84, upon the dissolution of bassist Jim Gange’s band, The Convertibles. Originally unsure if they’d be The Secret Service or The Valiants, when the group began, they featured Gange’s ex-Convertibles’ bandmate Dave Long on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. Long would soon depart, paving the way for the powerful pipes of Wayne Manor. Although Rob Normandin was part of their hometown Smithtown crowd, finding a drummer took some work. An ad went up at the Titus Oaks’ record store in Huntington Station, Long Island, asking for someone into the early Who, The Creation, and The Action. Although it was likely that Steve Peper – like most out there at the time – only knew The Who, he was in.

By early ’85, it was pretty obvious these guys – a Mod band in sound and style, with LOTS of soul – were going to be a major force. They began gigging heavily, doing a fair amount of covers early on, but soon writing a ton of fantastic originals. Their EP was solid, but their live shows were jaw-dropping. Luckily, a number of live tapes survive.

By ’86, they were probably one of the best bands on the NYC scene. They remained such right through their demise towards the end of ’88.

Jim Gange went on to play with The Pussywillows, The Vacant Lot, and The Greg Clark Four (and probably more I’m forgetting.) Steve Peper played in a band on Long Island for many years. Rob Normandin moved to New Hampshire. Wayne Manor briefly formed The Arbuckles, but then retired from rock’n'roll.

In ’97, The Vipers’ Jon Weiss asked the band to reunite for his first Cavestomp festival. For awhile, it looked like Wayne Manor would be unavailable, but fate smiled upon him and he was free. Unfortunately, Gange decided he wasn’t interested in taking part. Undaunted, the band called upon founding member Dave Long to move into the bass slot.

The promo spot comes from the Lehigh University radio station. Silly, sure, but still fun.

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Abandon Here – It Doesn’t Bother Me At All/She Loves Me Not You (live at Sparks)
Here’s another band I only saw at that Summer Beach Party show at Sparks. I knew nothing about them going in, but I was blown away that night. Unfortunately, I never saw them again. About 6-7 years later, however, I met guitarist/singer Bob Koenig through mutual friend Evan Shore. As it turned out, by then I was aware of Bob’s then-current group, The Keys, thanks to an early issue of Yellow Pills.

“It Doesn’t Bother Me At All” is a demo that’s too trebly for some tastes. I still love it. “She Loves Me Not You” is another favorite of the songs Bob Koenig sent to me. Yeah, it’s a live track, but it’s damn good.

The Fugitives – You Never Give In
After originally calling themselves Dionysus & the Naked Angels, they changed their name to one that was used at the same time by a band in NYC (and a gazillion kids in the ’60s). On the positive side, these guys – three from Northport and one from Smithtown – were both talented musicians and excellent vocalists. “You Never Give In” features a chiming riff that should get any ’60s pop fan smiling. In addition, they had a killer song called “Without You” that, upon the dissolution of The Fugitives, was covered by The Secret Service. Both versions can be heard in the “Without You” entry of my blog. You can learn more about them in the notes to Pop Goes… #3, as that podcast features another song by them, “When It Rains It Pours.”

Plastic Device – Hophead/Living in My Face
The Plastic Device were one of my favorite bands on the mid-’80s Long Island scene. Most of their stuff was high energy rock’n'roll, with a guitar (Dave Wise on these recordings; Mike Morgione beforehand), bass (Dan Cuddy), drums (Dave Ramirez), organ (Chris Xefos) lineup, plus a fantastic front man in Steve Hunking. Of course, they could also handle the pretty stuff. (Listen to Pop Goes… #3 and you’ll hear one of those.) They did both extremely well, though, and their shows were always fantastic. I’ve been telling Steve that it’s high time the guys got back together for a reunion show. I think he may believe I’m kidding. I’m not. Put these guys up there playing this stuff and they’d blow most bands off the stage. If you want to hear another great PD song (and learn more), check out The Plastic Device entry on my (rarely updated) blog.

Michael Lynch – I’m Gonna Batter Your Heart
Some of you are aware of Michael either from his current band, The Anything People, his old group, The Lynchpins, his solo recordings, or his participation in Shaw ‘Nuff. What you probably are NOT aware of is that Michael was stuck in teenage hell in a part of Long Island that was just not hooked in to what was going on about a half hour away. This had to be especially true for a guy Michael’s age, still in high school at the height of the fun stuff. Note that “guy” is an operative part of that sentence. (I knew girls in NYC, LI, and up in Rochester who could get into rock clubs at age 14; guys, not so much.) Sure, The Melted Americans went to high school with him, but they were a bit older. And so a teenage Michael Lynch did some recording in his basement.You may recognize this song, since he’s redone it in the past 5 years AND done it live. But this is the kind of nugget that probably few besides Michael knew existed.

The Immortal Primitives – Beach Beach Beach/Too Radical/Johnny Snotty
By the time I was old enough to start hitting the Huntington, Long Island bars, the Immortal Primitives were legendary. Based in Stony Brook, they developed quite the following on the SUNY SB campus. Formed in late ’81 by a wildman performer simply known as Birdman, they draped their drums in leopard skin, adorned their stage with a pair of surfboards named Betty and Veronica, and played Mosrite guitars. The band went through many lineup changes, although guitarist Adam Greiss and Beat Savage (drummer Dana Penny) were also regular cast members. At one point, they featured a keyboardist named Flavio Madrid. Dave Rick (later of King Missile, Phantom Tollbooth and others, now of The Martinets and Wide Right) played bass for awhile. A guy named Bill Bennett shared guitar duties with Adam for awhile, left, then returned on bass when Richie Brooks left to form the pre-Scofflaws’ group, The New Bohemians. [The Birdman, Adam, Richie, Dana lineup appears on these recordings. Vance Brescia of The Mosquitos shows up doing backing vox on "Beach Beach Beach".] Trivia Note: Adam’s name can be found in the thanks on The Ramones’ Mondo Bizarro. More info will be found in the liner notes going with the Out Of The Vaults episode of these guys at CBGB in ’83.

The Vindicators – On The Way
As I recall, the first pressing of their lone 7″ had the hole off-center. Do over! But…Side 1 listed two songs. Unfortunately, only the second of those was actually on the record. But, hey, at least the lyrics for the missing song – “I Don’t Get Mad (I Get Even)” – were on the sleeve. (And, yes, wise-acre, it really WAS a song, ‘cuz I can still remember what it sounded like.) Still, they had this record out before drummer Norman Roberts’ (aka Rob Normandin) other band, The Secret Service, managed to get their own record out. The group also included Ed “Slow Hand” Peterman on guitar, Andrew “Wrecker” LaDouceur on lead vocals and bass, and Plastic Device organist Chris Xefos. These guys – who put out their record on their own Fuzzola II Records – were all about down and dirty garage… And The Fleshtones, who were obviously their inspiration.

The Melted Americans – Any Little Man
I don’t recall The Melted Americans playing the Huntington area, but that’s probably because they lived a good 30-40 minutes away. If they were going to play that far away, they may as well have gone into Manhattan. (In fact, that’s how I first saw them, at a Mind’s Eye event at Tramps on East 15th St.) Unlike most bands on here, they actually did a bunch of records. They tended to lean more towards the psychedelic, as well, which made them a perfect fit for Anne & Ivy’s monthly Mind’s Eye event in NYC. At least one member is now in Brian Wilson Shock Treatment.

WHAT’S MISSING:

There are a few bands that didn’t end up on this podcast, for one reason or another, despite being a major part of the mid-’80s LI scene.

The New Bohemians – This band was kinda all over the place, musically speaking. However, they did some killer garage stuff, including a monster cover of “Talk Talk.” They didn’t make it simply because I wasn’t able to track down any demos by them. When Edie Brickell signed her record deal, Geffen discovered that these guys had their name before her band. As I recall, the band took the payoff, at which point they changed their name to The Scofflaws. Ska has been their focus ever since. As The Scofflaws, they’ve gone through a million lineup changes – Steve Prisco was in the group at one point – but leader Richie Brooks has persevered both in putting on consistently fantastic live shows and damn good records.

The Dogmatics – No, not the Boston band, but a Long Island bunch led by Scott Savitt. Fun rock’n'roll, but I wasn’t able to dig up anything in time.

The Convertibles – I saw this Smithtown bunch only a couple times right towards the end of their time together. I desperately wanted to include their song “Top Down” on this show, but the only version I could find was live, in which they hit “Wipe Out” in the middle of it. As fun as that was in the live setting, I wanted a studio version with just their own song, about the joys of driving to the beach on a beautiful Long Island summer day in lead singer John Pettit’s vintage convertible.

The Pranksters – Led by one of my Northport HS schoolmates, Greg Geraci, they played a ton, but they were absolutely not a garage band, nor even ’60s influenced, at least to my ears.

Major Tom & His All-Star Commandos – This was a pre-Fugitives rockabilly outfit with both Andy Burns and Tom Hughes. I might’ve considered including them if I had any of their stuff. I don’t.

Burning Lumber – I had nothing by them.

The Riddles – Some good songs that deserved better recordings. I may still include something by them in another podcast someday.

The Green Hornets – As these guys included a few ex-members of The Convertibles, they ended up recording “Top Down.” Unfortunately, the keyboard – which sounds like one of those crappy ’80s things – really annoys me.

THANK YOUs:

This episode goes back to my beginnings as a fan of live rock’n'roll, garage rock, etc. As a result, it’s been the only podcast that’s ever taken me something like four months to do. Now I know about at least one small part of what it must be like for people to put together certain comps. Although the birthing pains have been significant, I have to say that it’s been fun digging this stuff up again, as well as reconnecting with some people I hadn’t seen or heard from in years. So, thank you in absolutely no order to…

Evan Shore – who gave me tracks by The House Pets and The Press, plus lotsa cool info.
Mike Stark – more info on The House Pets, plus some ideas for the next NYC episode.
Bob Koenig – for sending not only studio material by Abandon Here, but also an entire live show that I was at over 20 years ago!
Adam Greiss – for The Immortal Primitives music and bio information.
Steve Hunking – for providing me with a bunch of Plastic Device studio recordings.
Michael Lynch – for digging up his personal time capsule, as well as getting in touch with some high school classmates, The Melted Americans, a band I’d seen at one of Anne & Ivy’s Mind’s Eye shows at Tramps on East 15th.
Dave Rick – for more Immortal Primitives background info.
Eammon Bowles – for background info, some Mosquitos and Fabians’ recordings.
Matthew Kaplan – for converting vinyl to CD and saving me some trouble.
Bill Jones – for supplying me with new copies of stuff I no longer had. My apologies for deciding not to use some of it.
Steve Prisco – who’s been supplying Bill Jones and I with more Mosquitos stuff!
Scott Savitt – For being the presence he was on the LI scene of the time. From his band introductions (especially of The Mosquitos, who he managed) to his own performances, to The Mosquitos’ Hotline (w/Scott’s voice telling where they’d be playing), right down to everything he helped us all with back then.
Chris Xefos – for recording and releasing a tape comp called The Origin Of Grapefruit in 1985. I’m not sure if any of these songs came from that tape, but it was a big part of our lives at the time. And I seem to remember Chris saying something very important to me on that tape: “Support local music… Always.” Or something like that.
Richie Brooks – for putting on so many great shows with The New Bohemians, then The Scofflaws.
Sparks – Long gone from that location on the hill, it’s true, but in those mid-’80s summers, it was THE place that had tons of great original bands. Add in that their parking lot allowed for some killer hang-out sessions before, between, and after the bands and, well, we had a great time.
The Old Long Island Gang – for making those mid-’80s summers so perfect. There are too many of you to name, but I’m glad you were all there.

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