After my hiatus from rock 'n' roll, I
was excited about seeing the Legendary Cazbats. I also wanted to bid a fond farewell
to Micky Bliss, host of Club Bohemia, held at the Cantab since 2007. Before 2007,
Club Bohemia had a home at the Kirkland Cafe for 14 years. It is fitting that I
would say my goodbyes while seeing drummer, Daniel McCarthy play as I did my first
night at Club Bohemia back in November 2000. That night, the bill was the Lyres,
the Classic Ruins with Billy Borgioli, and the Downbeat 5, with McCarthy providing
Jerry Nolan-esque drums. It is also noteworthy that McCarthy played on Borgioli's
last recording, Boston Cream {2010} and
was the last on to play live music with Borgioli before Billy’s passing on June
27, 2015.
The line-up of the Legendary Cazbats is
Chris Yeager on vocals and guitar, Bob Roos on guitar, Matt Robinson on bass, and
Daniel McCarthy on drums. The band set the fierce garage punk tone with "Same
All Over" by the Rogues/Squires. The Chocolate Watch Band's "Are You Gonna
Be There {At the Love In}" amped up the intensity. I recognized "Move"
by the State Of Mind as a great Venusians' cover from their 1990 recording Garage Dazed. The performance is classic
garage-punk-snotty-snarl. The band lightened the mood with Bobby Freeman's "C'mon
and Swim."
The Legendary Cazbats run the musical
and emotional gamut, switching it up again with the wistful romanticism of the Choir's
"In Love's Shadow." A personal favorite of mine was the band's MC5-style
rendition of "I Can Only Give You Everything." The Cazbats made the Count
V's "Psychotic Reaction" their own by opening it up as a runaway, accelerated
punk version. These guys reined it in on a beautiful version of the Gants' "Smoke
Rings." Yeager and company show their love of Chicago blues on the Willie Dixon
composition, "Spoonful," first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1960, and
then popularized in the later ‘60s by Cream. The Cazbats finish on the upswing with
a pristine delivery of shimmering jangle rock, The Byrds' "So You Wanna Be
a Rock 'n' Roll Star."
DVD Review:
All You Need is Fuzz: 30 Years in a
Garage Band
Directed by Timothy Gassen, 2018
The Marshmallow Overcoat was an important
part of the garage punk movement of the ‘80s. Timothy Gassen, under his alter ego
Randy Love, formed the band in 1986. The film is one hour and 29 minutes long, including
many interviews with group members, music videos, live shows, studio work, and rehearsals
leading up to their final show in 2008.
The band's influences include the Chocolate
Watch Band, the Doors, the Beatles, the Byrds, Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Electric
Prunes and bands that would be considered contemporary with Overcoat, such as the
Fuzztones and the Miracle Workers. The band incorporated traditional garage rock
elements of a Farfisa organ, 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, and Vox amps. Sartorially
speaking, they took up the ‘60s affinity for paisley shirts, Prince Valiant haircuts,
and Chelsea boots.
After a decade of spreading their paisley-drenched
neo-psychedelia, the band took a hiatus between 1996 and 2000.They reformed and
continued to record through 2011. Their sustaining influence on more contemporary
garage rock is due to their being so prolific. They have nine full albums as well
as singles and EPs. They have also received exposure via garage rock compilations
in Europe; also they earned a following through a European tour in their heyday.
In addition to their recording on Skyclad, Music Maniac in Germany, and Psyche Out
in France, Timothy Gassen released a 30 song, two-album set in 2013 on colored vinyl:
Marshmallow Overcoat-The Very Best Of.
Gassen also has DJ'ed as Randy Love and is the author of the popular Knights of Fuzz book and DVD series.
Poetry: Song For Dylan
Florid in the doorway
Blowing Bobby's horn
Told him I'm the one
Who took his crown
From the thorns
Hes buying me champagne
At the Metropole
Met him at the Mardi Gras
The fortune teller of my soul
The child is the father of the man
You gotta stumble before you can stand
The seventh mother said to the seventh son
Among the lucky you're the chosen one
He's Billy The Kid
He's Jean Harlow
Got a fake beard
Blue eyes like Rimbaud
On Highway 61
He tracked my heart
Playing dust bowl ballads
On a borrowed guitar#
Cornflower Blue
Mercury is sleepless
He gave his Red Wings
To a folk singer
At the HMV
Little sister is heading downtown
What will she pawn
She says she's the one
But only you cut through
Cornflower Blue
There is no one else
Who does what you do
There is no one else
Who always cuts through
Daddy's in the alley singin' the blues
Mama's readin' Jitterbug Perfume
Junior's talkin' Bible at the Exchange
Met him in Saigon
He says he's the one
But only you cut through
Cornflower Blue#
Photos can be made larger by clicking on them Videos
from the Internet
This
interview was originally published in Issue 3 of FFanzeen, dated Winter/Spring
1978-79.
Be warned,
the Sic F*cks in their day were crude and lewd, but what would you expect from
a band named the Sic F*cks anyway. My guess is they picked their name in a
similar fashion to Led Zeppelin. But that’s conjecture.
I don’t know what happened to the John Cale tapes, but in 1982, the Sic F*cks
released an Adny Shernoff-produced and self-titled 5-song 12”-er on Sozyamuda
Records. The musicians listed on the record playing with Russell, Tish, and
Snooky are Bob Hopeless on guitar, Dick String on lead guitar, Stink on bass,
and Harry Viderci on drums. For all I know, these are the same people who were
playing with them when I interviewed them.
One side is dedicated to one song, “(Take Me To) The Bridge,” a droll
spoof of the Talking Heads’ “Take Me to the River.” However, the other side is
so much more fun. There’s – in order of listing – “Spanish Bar Mitzvah,” “Rock
or Die,” “Insects Rule My World,’ and that Sic F*cks classic, “Chop Up Your
Mother.” Two of the songs, “Rock or Die” and “Chop Up Your Mother” were
performed (well, lip synced, anyway) by the band in the 1982 horror film, Alone in the Dark, which starred Donald Pleasant and future
Oscar winners Martin Landau and Jack Palance.
While the physical form is gone now,
thanks to greedy landlords, Tish and Snooky have have successfully turned Manic
Panic into a multi-million dollar hair coloring enterprise that started out as
mail order, and is presently in drug stores and supermarkets (including the
local Shoppers Drug Mart here in Saskatoon). Behind the scenes helping them is
first wave punk scenester and bassist for the likes of Judas Priestess, Gyda
Gash, who is Manic Panic’s webmistress.
It was the first really hot
night of 1978, the night I interviewed members of that fun group known
musically and affectionately as The Sic F*cks (“All that’s missing is ‘U’”). Present
were lead singer/guitarist Russell Wolinsky, and the back-up singers, Snooky
and Tish, also known as the Bellomo sisters. Not present were the rest: guitarist
Norman Schoenfeld, guitarist Joey Schaedler, bassist Jim Aresca, and drummer
Greg Wassil. The following took place in Tish and Snooky’s clothing store,
Manic Panic (St. Mark’s Place & Second Avenue):
Russell Wolinsky: Alright Trigger, how much
is two and two?
Tish Bellomo: I ain’t tellin’ you. Why should
I do your math homework for you?
FFanzeen:
Okay, you wanna tell, like, the background to how you got into Barbara Markay
& Hot Box, and all that?
Snooky Bellomo: No! We were bamboozled into
that. We were tricked. It was disgusting. They promised us two hundred dollars
a week to sing and dance and they never paid us.
FFanzeen:
You were in another group at the time?
Tish: Our first real group – well it wasn't a
real group – our first group was the Porno Rock Revue. Some of our songs were
originals, sort of in the line of the Sic F*cks: “Jerk Off Blues” and “Sit On
My Face,” and stuff like that; and then we had Rugby songs. We were in Blondie.
FFanzeen:
Blondie?
Snooky: We were the Bonzai Babies.
Russell: You were in Blondie? You know
Debbie?!
Tish: We can get you an autograph. Then we
were in Gorilla Rose and the Gutterettes. [Then] the Dropouts, who are now the
Accidents. They were our back-up group. We fronted them. After that –
Russell: – The rest is history.
Tish: Well, during the time we were in the
Dropouts, we did that Barbara Markay thing. It was just a fiasco. And then we
were still in the Dropouts and then we started doing guest spots, you know, we
did the thing with The Sic F*cks, and because of that we got thrown out of the
Dropouts – now Accidents. Cruel band. Naw, we’re still friends.
Russell: How’s that for a success story?
FFanzeen:
How did The Sic F*cks start?
Russell: There I was, in a five thousand watt
[radio station in Fresno, California] – I had never played on stage before and
I had been threatening to do an audition at CBGB for years. Well, maybe one
year.
Tish: I would say more like two months.
Russell: Actually, the day before – no, so
one day I was drunk at CBGB and I decided I could do better than the band
playing. I kept on drinking and I thought I could do better than any of the
bands playing. I knew Joey and Norman for a long time. They introduced me to
Jim, our bass player, and at first we used the sound man at The Bottom Line [the club where Russell works – ed.],
Ronald. So it was going to be the five of us for the audition. We had written
the songs, like “Saint Louis Sucks” and “Chop Up Your Mother.” We told them
(Tish & Snooky) about it. I know them from throwing up all over them.
Tish: No, Russell was throwing up all over
himself in the front seat of the car, and I was in the back seat.
Russell: So, anyway, they were just opening
up the store here and we told them about the band, and they said, “When do we
start?” and it was like, one of those great ideas, like Edison inventing the
light bulb or something. This is just what we need to make things whole for us.
Snooky: And the rest is history.
Russell: We had one more rehearsal, they
worked out their own parts and we went up on stage. August 1, 1977, I’ll never
forget it.
Snooky: Was that when it was? We have to
celebrate.
Russell: I wanna do a first year anniversary
show at CBGB.
Snooky: Yeah, great! A Tuesday night!
Russell: I’m trying to work it so everyone
gets a free beer on the house.
FFanzeen:
That’ll be right after this comes out.
Russell: Well, if they don’t get the free
beer, don’t be disappointed. Anyway, we did it. I didn’t tell that many people
about it, but this incredible amount of people, what was it, 300 people were
there.
Tish: It broke the CBGB record at any rate.
Russell: It was an audition night record.
Tish: And Lisa (Kristal) said, “Dad will be
sooo pleased,” as she looked down at the green. Did Handsome Dick show up?
Russell: Handsome Dick sang “Wild Thing” with
us. You were wearing Girl Scout uniforms. The only time you surprised me was
when you played in blackface. We told the crowd that it wasn’t Tish &
Snooky, but The Chocolatettes from Detroit.
FFanzeen:
The first time I saw you, you were wearing cut-out plastic garbage bags.
Russell: That was the night Snooky had the
fight.
Snooky: Oh my fight? Yeah, because I was
wearing a garbage bag. Robert Gordon doesn’t like garbage bags.
Russell: He likes paper ones.
Snooky: He was very upset. Robert’s my
boyfriend and he didn’t like me wearing garbage bags on stage.
Russell: Only around the house.
FFanzeen:
How did Manic Panic get started?
Russell: They said, “Hey let’s start a
store.”
Tish: We just decided to have the first punk
rock clothing store in New York. My personal thing is I would wear things to
CBGB and they were copied about two weeks later. So I figured why not sell it.
Snooky: It’s not like we said, “punk rock’s
gonna be the next big thing, let’s cash in on it.” It just happened to be what
we were into.
Russell: So they said, “this is going be the
next big thing let’s cash in on it.”
Tish: I used to go to a designing school for
a few months and I quit. I’ve always been into fashion and I always wanted to
have a store.
FFanzeen:
How did you pick a name like Sic F*cks?
Russell: It’s
just a parody of a punk rock name. You’ve got to remember we never expected to
do it more than once, a one shot deal. Unfortunately, it was taken the wrong
way. People come in and expect to see the ultimate punk show: throwing up; fornication.
FFanzeen:
Instead they get Jewish jokes.
Russell: Borscht Belt rock and roll.
Tish: Why did the Negroes move out of the
outhouse?
Russell: Why?
Tish: The Puerto Ricans were making too much
noise.
FFanzeen:
What are your influences?
Russell: Alcohol.
Snooky: Durwood Kirby.
Russell: The usual. Henny Youngman, the
Ramones, the Dictators, Jonathan Richman.
Tish: The Shangri-La’s. Vaginitus. The
sixties in general. Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts. The Rugby sounds.
FFanzeen:
What do you listen to now?
Russell: “I Got a Right” by Iggy. “Rhapsody
in the Rain” by Lou Christie, I listen to that a lot.
Tish: Herman’s Hermits. I still listen to
those 45s. There’s some good new stuff here and there.
Russell: Yeah, ABBA. I like ABBA.
Tish: You would. Typical.
FFanzeen:
How does a typical Sic F*ck song get written?
Russell: We get a case of beer. We always
start with the title, then me, Joey, and Norman write the music, then I write
the words over the music, then they (Tish & Snooky) fill their parts in. Well,
there we were, trying to think up a name for “Chop Up Your Mother.”
Tish: We were blasting that outside the store
last night. All these people were outside listening to the tape.
FFanzeen:
Can you give me couple of your song titles?
Tish: We can give you all of them.
Russell: Even songs we don’t do anymore, if
you want. Their song, “A Girl Like Me,” “Chop Up Your Mother,” “Teenage
Abortion,” “Let’s Eat,” “Faster and Louder,” both of which were written before
“Let’s Eat” by Nick Lowe and “Faster and Louder” by The Dictators.
Tish: “Ride the New Wave.” “Insects Rule My
World.”
Russell: “Spanish Bar-Mitzvah.”
Tish: “Toni Tennille.” “Fags on Acid.” A
classic.
FFanzeen: I came by here a while ago and someone said
you were recording with John Cale.
Russell: We did that already.
Tish: Old news.
Snooky: Ancient history. Old Wave news.
FFanzeen:
Is it
coming out as a single?
Tish: An EP.
Snooky: It has nine songs. The title is “Rock
It to Poland.”
Russell: It was supposed to come out June
sixth. Don’t hold your breath. I like John, but I would have done the recording
differently.
Tish: Yeah, he didn’t pay for our coffee.
Russell: Yeah.
FFanzeen: Do you think your name will hold you back?
Russell: It’s holding us back now. That’s
probably what’s holding us back from a major recording contract. The world
ain’t ready for a band with the name Sic F*cks.
Tish: Hilly suggested we change it to the Sic
Folks.
FFanzeen: You’d have to spell it Sic F*lks.
Russell: We suggested Hilly should change his
name of Sic Folks. Him or Jonathan.
Tish: Jonathan’s dead.
Russell: We should have a benefit for
Jonathan. Remember the dog Jonathan who was always at CBGB? He died. I think
CBGB should have a benefit concert every week.
Tish: I don’t think Jonathan had as many
friends as Johnny Blitz.
Russell: It was close.
FFanzeen:
Anyone who ever played pinball and stepped into…
Russell: Dog poo?
FFanzeen:
Yeah, they’ll remember. That was his favorite spot, wasn’t it?
Russell: He used to do it on the stage
occasionally. Especially the old stage with the carpet on it.
FFanzeen:
What are the ultimate goals of the group?
Tish: Money. Fame. Get laid. I just always
wanted to be a rock star. Even more than having a store, which was one of my
main goals. Now I have everything. Except for the money and the fame.
Russell: We haven’t made People magazine yet.
FFanzeen: What kind of fan is a Sic F*ck fan?
Russell: Somebody with nothing to do on
Friday night. We’ve established a solid following.
Tish: We get a lot of tourists coming to the
name.
Russell: “Hey these crazy New Yorkers. What
will they think of next?”
Tish: A lot of guys come to gawk. Men in
raincoats with newspapers on their laps.
Russell: Just a lot of people who are tired
of all these New York bands taking themselves so seriously. We’re punk and rock
and roll.
Tish: We’re also power pop-oriented. Also New
Wave.
Russell: Even reggae.
Snooky: Calypso. We even play weddings and
bar-mitzvahs.
Russell: I mean, everyone has a definition of
punk. There’s a big difference between the Ramones and the Dead Boys, a totally
different attitude, but basically both play the same thing; they play rock and
roll.
FFanzeen:
What do you do to keep busy? I realize some of these questions are dumb, but I
wrote them about half an hour ago on the train over, or I took them from old
fanzines.
Russell: Yeah, I
remember this one from the Teenage Jesus interview in FFanzeen.
Tish: We knit. Crochet.
Russell: We beat off a lot.
FFanzeen: That’s the same thing Lydia Lunch said (in the Teenage Jesus
interview).
Russell: Then we don’t beat
off a lot. Isn’t it great to be young and live in America!
Tish: I like hanging out once in a while. I
love getting drunk. I like being on stage more than anything. But we rarely
rehearse.
Russell: There’s nothing like being on stage.
Tish: What do you get when you cross a Jew
and a Polack?
Currently living in Saskatoon (email at RBF55@msn.com for address). From 1977-88, I used to publish a print version of a music magazine in New York called FFanzeen, which dealt with the wide-ranging independent music scene. I also photographed many bands from the period (and since). Now I write this blog. And the beat goes on.
Song For Dylan
Posts
