| I have a 1983
Friday, June 29th, 2001| I have a 1983 BURN POTENTIAL record called
| I’D RATHER BE IN PHILADELPHIA. The songs
| on this compilation are by: BUNNYDRUMS, PRETTY
| POISON, SENSORY FIX, IMPOSSIBLE YEARS,
| MOTHER MAY I, BOOK OF LOVE, RED BUCKETS,
| GIRLS DOWNSTAIRS, & EXECUTIVE SLACKS.
Mostly, they broke up.
Pretty Poison began as Blondie imitators and released a 7″ single called “Gimme Gimme Your Autograph” around 1981. They changed their sound to become more dance-floor friendly and self-released a few 12″ singles, one of which saw enough chart action to get them a deal with Virgin. They had a huge hit on Virgin, but were reportedly so difficult to deal with that the label opted not to do a second album. They have reappeared on and off over the years. Oh, and at some point Jade Starling got breast implants.
Bunnydrums lived and worked in a large building in North Philly they named the Funk Dungeon. The name and space lives on. They made records, toured, broke up. Drummer Joe Ankenbrand has been in numerous post-Bunnydrums projects, including some with Sic Kidz founder Mick Cancer.
Mother May I featured Lisa Cortes who started the still (?) extant girl band The Friggs. The band also contained the guy who now owns Zipperhead. I think both of them were in a band called Dr. Bombay.
Sensory Fix included (I think) “Vosco,” who then became the singer the band Ruin.
Book of Love, formerly Head Cheese (with one Bush Tetras-like 45 under that name), signed to Sire Records and made a few mildly successful records for them through the early 90s. They moved back to New York before that happened though (they started as the first new wave band based at Philadelphia College of the Arts, now U of the Arts). The successful version of Book of Love were name-checked in the Dead Milkmen dance music parody “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything.”
Red Buckets were based around Boston-born Lou Reedish singer-songwriter Richard Mason. Before he came to Philadelphia, Mason had a Boston-based band called The Insteps, with Philadelphians Cordy Swope (later in Ruin) and Dave Brown (formerly in many bands ranging from The Lyres to Drug Emporium; currently in Clock Strikes Thirteen). He kept changing band members except for his girlfriend Kris Yiengst on bass, who later was one of the 800 members of The Friggs. Before the compilation, they released a 7″ that’s not very good on Burn Potential (the same label as the comp, which was run by Head Cheese/Book of Love singer Sue Ottaviano — I think this plus the Head Cheese 45 and the comp are the whole Burn Potential catalog).
A demo tape of their song “Jane September” was frequently heard on WPRB in the mid ’80s. At one point half the band was living in Hoboken. One drummer who served time in Red Buckets was Stan Demeski, later in The Feelies and Luna. Mason was a genius networker who had a great reputation among countless national bands (R.E.M. was the biggest) who plugged Red Buckets from their stages. He later moved to Hoboken but the band broke up, and he became a busboy at Maxwell’s and a junkie. He was last seen living with his parents in the Boston area. In the late ’80s. Philadelphia band The Johnsons did a cover of their song “Something Else Again” (from I’D RATHER BE…). Yo La Tengo wrote an impressionistic song about him called “The Ballad of Red Buckets” that appears on ELECTR-O-PURA.
The Impossible Years, who I managed, lasted up until around 1986. Leader Todd Shuster became a school teacher and made 4-track tapes solo, many of which were released on his self-pressed 1997 CD, MY REPORT CARD, which I highly recommend. He is semi-releasing a second collection right now via self-packaged CD-Rs, which will probably never be in a store. He plans to also compile a CD of live and demo recordings of the more pop-punk (a la Ramones, Buzzcocks) pre-TIY band The Jags (not to be confused with a later British band of the same name who did “Back of My Hand”), and/or live Impossible Years material. Drummer Seth Schweitzer followed Todd’s lead and also went back to school to become a teacher. He plays drums alone quietly in his Ardmore apartment. Not sure what happend to the bass player, but I presume he is still working for the IRS and giving guitar lessions on the side.
One time Impossible Year bassist (from before the comp album track was done) Tony Marsico moved to Los Angeles in the early ’80s, joined The Plugz/Cruzados, and after that band’s demise became a very busy session bass player, working with John Doe, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, among others. For many years he has plaed in Matthew Sweet’s band. He has also become a very successful primitive painter and sells his quickie art on his own website.
Subscribe to HJ's RSS Feed
