Red Forty-- discography CD (FCH014)

 
Red Forty-- discography CD (Harlan Records #14)

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17 songs.
1-12 recorded 1994-1996 by Barry Poynter in Little Rock, AR.
13-17 recorded July 1994 by Ray Brooks at Crystal Studios in Bryant, AR.
First pressing: 1099 copies, August 1999.
Second pressing: 1100 copies, June 2005.

Credits:

Colin Brooks-- guitar
Steve Kooms-- drums
Ben Nichols-- bass, voice

Track Listing:

1. Cry At The Table
2. Will Be Mine
3. Wish I Was A Racecar Driver
4. Smile Back
5. Where Are You Loca Nadine?
6. Straight Past Me
7. Lucky
8. Seventeen
9. Date At The Payphone
10. Firebrand
11. Frisco
12. The Outsiders
13. Five Nine
14. Girl
15. Rocker
16. Same Road Again
17. Veronica

Notes:

* 13-17, along with 3 songs not on this CD, were on Red Forty's demo tape (self-released, 1994).
* 9-12 were on the "Date At The Payphone" 7" (Landmark Records, 1995).
* 6 was on the We've Lost Beauty: A Compilation For Christopher comp LP (File 13 Records, 1996).
* 3 was on the "Heartbreakers And Rumpshakers" comp 7" (Harlan Records, 1998).

* Members also in Lucero, Dan Zanes & Friends, Vegas Thunder, Pezz, The Stills, The Big Cats, Skeleton Key, The Results, Substance, Step By Step, The Numbskulz,  Ho Hum, 2 Minutes Hate, Lucky Old Sun, Victory Garden, G, Sint, and Shatner.

Red Forty @ Das Yutes A Go-Go. Little Rock AR, October 1995. Photo by Nate Powell.

Soophie Nun Squad-- Don't Let Them Take You Alive CD (FCH012)

 
Soophie Nun Squad-- Don't Let Them Take You Alive CD (Harlan Records #12)

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17 songs.
Recorded (mostly) December 1997 by Barry Poynter in Little Rock, AR.
1000 copies pressed, March 1998.

Credits:

Dustin Clark-- guitar
Mark Lierly-- drums
Mike Lierly-- voice
Eli Milholland-- bass
Nate Powell-- voice
Tim Scott-- voice, turntables
Mikael Wood-- voice
Maralie Armstrong-Rial-- backing voice
Emil Heiple-- backing voice
Ryan Seaton-- backing voice, kazoo solo in "Love Is A Frozen Fishstick"
Randie Young-- backing voice
Jenny Holt-- backing voice
Stewart Isbell-- beatbox assist on "Books"

Track Listing:

1. Tomorrow
2. Books! Check Em Out!
3. Swamp Thing
4. Jump
5. Crotchy Momma
6. Onward
7. Kids
8. Heart And Soul
9. Another Day
10. Hey Hey Margaret, Your Momma's Got A Cow
11. Push It
12. Point Of View
13. PJ Sod
14. Love Is A Frozen Fishstick
15. Feedback
16. Shoe Song
17. Dogtown

Notes:

* This album represents Soophie's third time in a proper studio, and we STILL hadn't really figured out we could overdub or do anything besides have a live party in the studio. These songs were basically recorded in 2 hours, and mixed down in another four. Our cheapskate brains simply couldn't fathom the benefits of spending more than one day in the studio.

* The banter at the end of "Shoe Song" is for real-- Mike hadn't grasped the concept of the studio fade-out, and is given an explanation on-record, but still doesn't quite trust the studio witchcraft.

* Dustin to engineer, while setting up equipment: "Uhh, Barry-- sooooo what happens if, let's say, somebody spilled a 64 oz. strawberry soda all over your floor?"

* En route to the studio for one of these sessions, Eli threw a bagel at a teenager mowing the lawn. A minute after arriving at Barry's, our car was boxed in by a Mustang driven by some adult with an undefined relationship to the kid. The dude started trying to intimidate us while we loaded our equipment in, but we quickly forgot about it. A few minutes later, Barry got reeeeaaaally nervous and pointed out that five cop cars were outside, questioning everyone about the "bagel-related hate crime". Barry hid in an underground bunker or tunnel until the police swarm had moved on. We were not in any way Barry's favorite band to record.

* Members also in Humanbeast, V Manuscript, Sand City, Universe, Pallbearer, R.I.O.T.S., The Evelyns, Divorce Chord, Wait, The Insides, Tem Eyos Ki, Sugar And The Raw, Rainy Day Regatta, Boomfancy, Gioteens, Shake Ray Turbine, Revolver Red, William Martyr 17, and K.

SNS @ Vino's, Little Rock AR, December 1997. The night before recording this album. During this era, around 350 people would come to our Vino's shows, and we'd get paid around $150 and pizza. Split 10 ways.

SNS plays the last set of the final Rice Street house New Year's Eve party, moments before the entire kitchen floor caves in. Little Rock AR, December 1998. Photo by Ben Mistak.

Shake Ray Turbine-- The Sauce Of Solution CD (FCH010)

Shake Ray Turbine-- The Sauce Of Solution CD (Harlan Records #10/ File Thirteen #23)

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13 songs.
Recorded December 1996 by Barry Poynter in Little Rock, AR.
1000 copies pressed, November 1997.
(Harlan Records was a joint venture between Noah Young and I for this release, and this album was a split release with File 13 Records, which had recently returned to Matt Werth's hands shortly after moving to Philadelphia.)

Credits:

Dustin Clark-- bass
Ben Dickey-- guitar, voice
Clay Simmons-- guitar, voice
Chris Wilson-- drums
John Pugh & Jim Hunnicutt-- backing voices
Catherine McRae-- violin

Track Listing:

1. The Sauce Of Solution
2. The First Equation
3. Which Way To Georgia
4. Murder In An Aquarium
5. Sketch Of An Optical Factory
6. White Wine
7. The Gig Is Up
8. Rosetta
9. Surprise Surprise
10. To Kill Birds With Stones
11. This Machine Will Kill You
12. Our Last Days On Mars
13. Silver Suited

Notes:

* As I remember, this album was supposed to be called Our Last Days On Mars, but somewhere some wires got crossed while the cover was being designed, and now we're all stuck with the damn Sauce Of Solution.

* Members also in Blood Feathers, Unfixers, Amen Booze Rooster, Ted Leo & Pharmacists, Aspera, The Lapse, Sean Na Na, Soophie Nun Squad, Sand City, The Insides, Revolver Red, William Martyr 17, Heads Are Heavy, and Hundred Years War.

Shake Ray Turbine @ The Outpost. Little Rock AR, December 1995. Photo by Eli Milholland.

Shake Ray Turbine @ 800 State St., Little Rock AR, March 1996. Photo by Eli Milholland.

Soophie Nun Squad-- "Dino" 7" (FCH009)

Soophie Nun Squad-- "Dino" 7" (Harlan Records #9)
DOWNLOAD HERE with extra songs! (click ONLY on the light blue box that says "click here to start DL from Sendspace")

5 songs.
Recorded July 23, 1996 by Barry Poynter in Little Rock, AR.
500 copies pressed, April 1997.
With this release (and through 1998), Noah Young joined forces with me, contributing essential funds to breathe life into Food Chain Records, on the condition that the label be renamed Harlan Records in memory of his late father.

Credits:

Dustin Clark-- guitar
Mark Lierly-- drums
Mike Lierly-- voice
Eli Milholland-- bass
Nate Powell-- voice
Mikael Wood-- voice, dancing
Noah Young, Emil Heiple, Billy Grubbs, Lindsey Wilson-- backing voices
(Tim Scott joined SNS in Summer 1996, but was absent for this recording.)

Track Listing:

1. Dino
2. Peru/ Hardcore Peru
3. Five Ninjas Strike Back!
4. Hulk Can't Be Denied
5. Ghost Town/ Drop The Bass!

Notes:

* This was SNS's first time in a proper studio. Dustin had already done studio time with Shake Ray Turbine and Eli had with Christopher, but it never occurred to any of us to double guitars, do vocal overdubs, or to record ANYTHING outside of a raging, live house-party take in the control booth on two microphones. Which worked amazingly well for this record, I admit. "Ghost Town/ Drop The Bass!" is easily one of the best songs Soophie ever recorded.

* We had almost finished setting up for the session when, in a typical Soophie fashion, Mark realized he hadn't brought a single cymbal or stand. We found nothing in Barry's studio, and were saved at the last possible minute by running down the street and fishing a forgotten 14" crash out of Chris Wilson's (Shake Ray Turbine, Ted Leo) closet. So give that crash a listen-- it's basically half a hi-hat.

* Band members' opinions on this record vary, but generally we feel these are the most bizarre song choices we've ever settled on for a record. Not a single serious song, but it's weirder than that: none of these songs had a single lyric written down for their inception. I find it really funny that I transcribed the lyrics to what is essentially a freestyle 7", and actually paid extra money to have those lyrics printed on the insert. I personally hate "Hardcore Peru" (which is confusingly an Oi spoof)-- it adds nothing to the "Peru" experience, isn't necessarily funny, and we just sort of stuck with it once we added it. But really, "Hulk" is maybe the worst song in the entire SNS catalog (second only to the unrecorded "Untie The Kids")-- I should point out that we had no real feelings or interest about wrestling, the Hulkster, or whatever. With different lyrics, it would be a decent Gorilla Biscuits song. But my god. I should note that Eli still thinks this 7" rules, and he was also the major force behind vaguely conceptual interest in The Hulkster Going Bad on WWF in 1996. We went along for the ride. (Confession: a year later, we kinda tried to write a Ric Flair song for a Flair-themed comp that never came out. So we're all to blame here.)

* Mike mentions his genitals on every single song, and also mentions the nematode living in his foot at the time of recording, as well as the yeast infection he'd recently gotten after swimming with a plastic bread bag tied around his parasitic foot.

* The extra songs on this download include a version of "Tomorrow" from this session, meant for Stewart Isbell's unreleased compilation CD of Arkansas bands (including SNS, Red Forty, The Big Cats, Full Service Quartet, Benchmark, Ricochet Rocket, Class Of Eighty Four, Red Brigade, Shake Ray Turbine, and No City No State). Some of those tracks wound up on the Towncraft DVD/2xCD boxed set in 2007, and we rerecorded "Tomorrow" for Don't Let Them Take You Alive, but this version is still kinda the best. Also included is a cover of James Brown's "Goodness Sakes, Look At Those Cakes" recorded in 1998 for an unreleased compilation of James Brown covers. I think we were the only band to ever turn in a song for it.

* Members also in Humanbeast, V Manuscript, Sand City, Universe, Pallbearer, R.I.O.T.S., The Evelyns, Divorce Chord, Wait, The Insides, Tem Eyos Ki, Sugar And The Raw, Rainy Day Regatta, Boomfancy, Gioteens, Shake Ray Turbine, Revolver Red, William Martyr 17, and K.

SNS's legendary show with Assuck & Encyclopedia Of American Traitors in a front yard at 3 a.m. in Columbus OH, during the 1998 More Than Music Fest.

SNS's first show outside of Arkansas. College Park MD, July 1997.

SNS at Club Soda, Washington DC, June 1998.