NO USE FOR A NAME - debut 7" - 1988

OK, this isn't really the thing I'm known for, but it's part of my obscure past nonetheless. I was one of the founding members of NO USE FOR A NAME. We started rehearsing back in 1986, at drummer Rory's dad's warehouse in an industrial section of Sunnyvale. Most of the members were kids I knew since grade school... In fact, bassist Steve Papoutsis was my best friend in kindergarten and through the decades to come.  Steve, Rory, and I had been trying to start a punk band together since 1983, except Rory was the only one of us who could actually play an instrument. After a few incarnations (Angry White Boys, P.S.A.), and a couple years for me & Steve to get our shit together and figure out how to play three or four chords in a row, NUFAN was born. Original band name in consideration was No Need For A Name.
We started as a four-piece, with me on guitar.  Eventually we added a second guitarist and a second vocalist. We were this completely bizarre hybrid of punk, hardcore, suburban youthful angst, heavy Black Flag worship, and lack of coherence overall.
The only recording with the six-piece line-up was a demo recorded at Gilman. One of these days I'll post it, and really fuck up the legacy of this band.  Haha...
I joined Stikky in 1987 and continued to play with NUFAN into that year as well.  I quit NUFAN because my passion was rooted in trying to play as fast as possible, so Stikky was my main focus since the Wilder brothers were fellow speed freaks.
But within the year, NUFAN's vocalist had quit, they were a week away from a big show at Gilman with Attitude Adjustment and asked me to fill in.  So, I ended up in NUFAN a second time.  This time on vocals.  And this time captured in a real studio.

I was a lousy vocalist (previously around '85 I sang in a San Jose skate punk band called Legion Of Doom, and did a poor job of that as well), but I did my best to try sounding like a tough guy, even as a 19 year old pipsqueak from the suburbs. We recorded a few times... there's probably about 25 or so early songs recorded with me on vocals. Only 9 were released, I believe.  One song on the Lookout comp "The Thing That Ate Floyd", four on the "Let Em Out" 7" on Slap A Ham.

But the first release was this one...
Our debut 7" was released by another childhood classmate Jeff Maser, bassist for Anxiety, and head of this short-lived label Woodpecker Records.
It doesn't sound like anything that NUFAN became known for, but that makes it more fun to spin...

 

I quit the band again around '89, but fate brought me back for a third time, on second guitar. But that's another story best left for another time (or not)...

**NEW LINK: Re-upped 5. 15.13 - NUFAN 1st EP

STIKKY - Spamthology

This is the release I'm asked about the most.  It's a collection of stuff that has been out of print for a long time.  The problem is this collection of stuff that has been out of print for a long time has also been out of print for a long time.

STIKKY - Spamthology Vol. 1.
No, there is no Vol. 2.
Released on Sound Pollution around 1997.
This release collects the rough mix of the "Where's My Lunchpail?" album, and both 7" releases, "Cuddle" and "I & I & That Guy Over There", plus a couple oddball outtakes.
The original Lunchpail album had a horrible mix, and an even worse mastering job.  This version of the album was taken from a rough mix cassette that sounds better, plus it has all of our rambling between songs... when we recorded the vocals we did everything live, meaning we just let the tape roll and recorded each song consecutively.  Aside from one or two stops, for the most part, it was all recorded in one long take. 

In my opinion, STIKKY drummer Todd Wilder was one of the very first (and unrecognized) drummers to EVER play a blast beat.  Listen to "Pollution Rules" and "Boy, Do Girls Ever Suck". These were recorded in 1988, but written in 1987. Prior to this (and not included on this collection) was the comp track "Russia Nuked Themselves", written and recorded in 1986, definitely the first STIKKY blast beat, and for sure one of the earliest recorded.  Yes, I know about Repulsion around the same time.  I said "ONE of the earliest" you Numb Nut!

STIKKY - Spamthology

TO THE POINT

Here's a collection of stuff from one of my bands that's actually still around:  TO THE POINT

First 8 songs are from the split 7" with Yacopsae on the Rot Box 3x7" collection, released on Fucking Kill Records from Germany.
Tracks 9-11 are from our first one-sided 7" "Mentally Checked Out". Only 160 copies of that one.
Tracks 12-14 are from our second one-sided 7" "Success In Failure".  Only 300 copies there.
Track 15 is from the upcoming split 10" with Pick Your Side.
Track 16 is from the upcoming split 7" with ACxDC.

I've entitled this collection "Shit You Should Have Bought On Vinyl The First Time Around", for obvious reasons...

Prepare to release your inner Caveman!

TO THE POINT - Greatest Hits Of All Time

SPAZZ - split LP with Romantic Gorilla

In 1994, we recorded a split LP with Romantic Gorilla from Japan.  Best band name ever.

And we were lucky enough to play with them a few times as well... the first show was at Gilman, and strangely enough, the second show was 5 days later in Tokyo.

The split album was released on Sound Pollution in 1995, and it's long out of print.
Our front cover photo was taken by Winni Wintermeyer. Someone came up with the idea that we each take a band pic in front of a landmark from where we live, so Spazz is in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, and Romantic Gorilla is in front of the Tokyo Tower. That weird white thing in the middle is supposed to be a telephone linking us to each other.  Awww... isn't that adorable?

Here's a few unused pics from the proof sheet... my, what handsome young lads...

This link is for the Spazz tracks only.  Check out what we were up to in '94.

SPAZZ - tracks from split album with Romantic Gorilla

My brief stint with HELLNATION

A lot of folks don't know I toured & recorded with Kentucky thrash legends HELLNATION in the summer of 1999.

Here's the proof.

I was living in San Francisco at the time.  Ken sent me the set list, I found all of the songs off the records, made a tape of the set & practiced on my own for a month or two, then Ken & Al flew to SF, we rehearsed for a week, played a warm-up show at Gilman, recorded with Bart Thurber at House Of Faith, then hit Europe for a month.

Our recording ended up being released as the "Cheerleaders For Imperialism" album on Slap A Ham, now long out of print.  The first three songs were written on the spot in the studio.  The rest of the album was basically our set list for the tour, in the order we played the songs live.

 HELLNATION - Cheerleaders For Imperialism

SPAZZ - Final recordings - October 1998

The last time SPAZZ hit the studio was October 1998.  We recorded these 5 songs.  The first four ended up on the infamous split 7" with 25 TA LIFE that took about 10 years to come out officially.  The last track was on the Fat Wreck Chords compilation "Short Music For Short People"... the comp that directly ripped off my "Bleaurgh" 7" comp series (I know because Fat Mike told me so). 
This is the original, mastered, mixdown CD, and the songs appear in the order they were recorded.  The first four ended up in a different order on the split 7".

SPAZZ - final recordings 10/98

STIKKY demos

A lot of folks have hit me up for copies of the STIKKY demos.  I keep meaning to capture them as files, but I'm too busy drinking fancy craft beer and watching "Murder She Wrote".  Luckily my pal Robert Collins who runs the awesome tape blog TERMINAL ESCAPE has already created a download for 3 of the 4 STIKKY demo tapes, and a few rehearsal tracks are included to round it out to an even 90 min.  The only thing missing in the link below is Demo #3.  Demo #3 1/2, which is included here, is actually our 4th demo.

Jamie Porter was the bassist on the first two demos from '85 & '86.  I joined in '87 and played on demos #3 and #3 1/2, both recorded in '87.  Rehearsal tracks are from '87 as well.  We used to record our rehearsals through a mixer, so this sounds pretty damn good.

Prepare for an onslaught of total dork thrash...


STIKKY - demos 1, 2, and 3 1/2, plus rehearsal tracks