This recording is from the radio show "Pipeline" on MIT's fantabulous radio station WMBR. This was back before Stompbox signed to Columbia, and even before we put out the "Travis" ep.This is what I'd call "true old school Stompbox"....This was before Erich had developed his homeboyish persona, and was more of funlovin' drunk guy. Funny drunk Erich was a lot more fun than Homeboy Erich, but I think the youngsters liked the Homeboy shtick a lot.
When I listen to this recording, I am struck by a few things. For one thing, it's evident that Jeff hadn't given up the whammy bar yet. Additionally, there are a few examples here of Erich's sometimes being, well, let's say inconsistent in the area of pitch.
I am also reminded about how long it took Erich to work out his vocal parts, and then am amazed that he was willing to perform songs live for which he had very clearly not written a single word. One quick listen to this early version of "Chevy S-10" will convince even the casual listener that Erich had no problem with this sort of thing.
There are a LOT of tunes here that we dropped later on. "Lobotomizer", "Secret Sharer", "Pick it Up"...these were all holdovers from the Stompbox days before Jeff and Zeph joined up. As we wrote more songs, these all got dropped from the regular rotation. "Little Lambzy Divey" and "Hate Me" were just too metal. As we grew into the band that we ended up, that stuff just didn't fit in very well with the newer songs.
I am also very thankful that there are no slapped bass parts on this recording. There were a couple early numbers in our repertoire that featured more slappin' and/or poppin' than one ought to be subjected to. Hey, it was the early 90s, it was practically required. Honest, it wasn't my fault!
This stellar recording is the handywork of Carl Plaster, whose engineering skills and drum tuning skills are mighty indeed.
1 comment:
Oh my. I'm not really this old...BUT...I remember the pre Zeph 'n' Jeff era. I loved you guys then. But I loved you MORE once the rhyming duo joined. Of course, it didn't hurt that Jeff has NEVER been hard on the eyes. He had all us girlies' hearts a'flutter. Or maybe that was just me.
Funny Drunk Erich - ah yes. Lots of fun. Oh the stories I recall from our misspent yoot. We need to get our families together so we can sit around regaling the kids with stories...oh wait...they should never hear those. Never mind.
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