Death Piggy "Mangoes and Goats"

Death Piggy
Love War
7" EP
(D.S.I. Records, 1984)

Holy crap! A POST! Alert the press! Slaughter the fatted calf! Drink some hot benzine!

OK, maybe don't hurt the poor, baby cow. I'm a vegetarian, after all.

So, I've not been posting for a number of reasons, all excellent. One of them is I've wanted to implement HTML5 Audio, for browsers that can use it, especially those that can't use Flash, like my newest phone (an otherwise kickass Motorola Atrix HD).

I wanted the HTML5 Audio stuff to be fancy-ish, and emulate the colors and whatnot of the rest of my blog, but I've just not had the time to sit down and learn Javascript well enough to do all that gunk . . . yet. Never say never, but, please, don't suggest that we sleep together.

Anyhow, I finally decided today, To heck with it, I'm tired of putting off posting, so here's a new (old) song!

Many, many years ago, my old punk band opened for Death Piggy in our hometown of Charlottesville, VA. We ended up becoming friendly with Death Piggy, who were from the distant environs of Richmond, VA, a full hour's drive away, and played a buncha shows together over the next few years.

Death Piggy released three kick butt little 7" EP records full of dadaist, chaotic punk rock before morphing into the band today known as GWAR, whose name may ring a bell. GWAR are great fun live, but I prefer the musical output of the original band. They followed their debut EP, and source of today's song, Love War, with Death Rides the Fairway . . ., then, finally, R45.

Those three records were all fairly limited press runs and went out of print rather quickly. A CD was released in 1999, SMILE or DIE !!!, with the entire contents of the three records, but it, too, was limited, and it's long gone, as well.

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NOTA BENE: Death Piggy also had an exclusive song, Fear of Murder, on the Mutopia cassette compilation released by D.S.I. Records. I almost included it instead of Mangoes and Goats, but the sound is super muddy and it's just not as good a song. Still, completists be aware! Or should that be beware?

The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower "For Marcus"

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The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower
Dissertation, Honey
CD
(Happy Couples Never Last Records, 2003)

The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower opened for a popular underground band at a show here a number of years ago. I went on the advice of a friend, and because I'd been hearing for years about how great the headlining band were. I thought they were OK, but that's the nicest thing I can say. On the other hand, TPtBUtET, whom I'd never even heard of before, kicked my ass quite nicely. Sadly, a few years later they called it a day. I saw them here again on their farewell tour and got kissed (on the cheek! I am a common-law-married man!) by their handsome singer. Were I single, I'd've swooned.

The titular focus of today's jukebox track was a real boy: Marcus Wayman. From the CD booklet:

Marcus Wayman, 18, was in a parked car with a 17-year-old male when police questioned the two, found condoms while searching the car, and arrested them for under-age drinking. At the police station, officers lectured the two teens on about the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality and threatened to tell Wayman's grandfather that he was gay. After Wayman, a highschool football player, was released from custody, he committed suicide in his home.

Was Marcus gay? Does it even matter? The simple presumption of homosexuality is enough for bullies to attack other kids, whether or not said victims are LGBT. Clearly, the police were bullies in this case. Marcus's family pressed civil charges against the officers and the town. Despicably, the attorney for the police tried to argue that sexual orientation is not a private matter!

The family setup a website in 2002 during the trial. I'll let them take over from here, from the What's New page:

Marcus' Story

Minersville, PA, USA: Marcus Wayman and another friend were in an abandoned parking lot where they were turning around their vehicle, coming from a high school party. The teens were immediately followed into the lot by local police. Officers at once stopped and separated the teens.

After frisking the teens, police found that one of them were carrying condoms. Officer Scott Willinsky within minutes concluded the boys were obviously queers (police quote) and stopping to engage in sex. After questioning the teens about the condoms, Willinksy had his mind made up, regardless of their answers.

The small town police threatened to tell the teens' families, friends and community that they were homosexuals and quoted biblical passages while placing them under arrest for underage drinking.

Marcus, a high school football player, distraught and despaired, scared that he would be labeled and outed as gay by the police to the small community, his family and friends … six hours later … committed suicide.

He was 18 years old.

In a time of rampant HIV, STD infections and teenage pregnancy, we teach and preach to our youth to practice safe sex. Yet in Minersville, carrying condoms is translated from responsible teenage behavior to being queer faggots (police quote).

In 1998, Madonna Sterling, Marcus' mother, filed civil charges against Minersville police officers and the town; specifically, Police Chief Joseph Willinsky and son Scott Willinsky (who is still an officer in Minersville), claiming that the officers clearly violated Marcus' privacy rights.

Due to the vague nature of sexual orientation being covered under privacy laws, the attorney for the police argued that sexual orientation was not considered private and therefore, not protected under the Constitutional Amendments. As a result, the defense moved for a dismissal from all charges against the very same police who are sworn to protect and serve all citizens.

During pretrial arguments in November 2000, the 3rd U S Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that a person's constitutional right to privacy not only includes one's sexual orientation but stated it is difficult to imagine a more private matter than ones sexuality and a less likely probability that the government would have a legitimate interest in its disclosure. Further, by threatening to disclose ones homosexuality would be tantamount to doing so, because the security of ones privacy has been compromised by the threat.

The defense for the police further justified the actions of the police by saying that in small towns like Minersville, the police are obligated to take on parental roles as well act as spiritual advisors to members of their community .Chief Willinsky offers that, as a small town police officer, his role has parental overtones, thus, reducing the citizens' expectation of privacy. We mention this only to note our disagreement with the concept that the breadth of ones constitutional rights can somehow be diminished by demographics, US Circuit Judge Carlos Los Mansmann wrote in the ground-breaking, landmark opinion.

This high court ruling allowed the case to move forward and the civil trial was held in Allentown, Pennsylvania on November two-thousand and one. After three days of testimony, a jury acquitted the police from any wrongdoing.

And no one is held accountable???

On June 17th, 2002, the honorable and respectable, Judge Arnold C. Rapoport granted a new trial for this case, tossing out the previous acquittal. Judge Rapoport saying that the evidence presented at trial was clearly not heard or understood by the jury, calling the verdict a miscarriage of justice.

The defense immediately appealed for a reconsideration of Rapaport's decision to overturn the verdict and further plead to allow the Appellate Court hear whether it was within Judge Rapaport's authority to toss the verdict.

In a terse statement issued on October 18, 2002, Judge Rapaport issued a decision that boldly and flatly denied the defense's plea on both counts … clearing the way for the police to face new charges of misconduct, again, in front of a new jury for the invasion of privacy that prompted Marcus' suicide.

Let us not forget that Marcus' death and this case has afforded all gay, lesbian and bisexual people the right to privacy under the 14th Amendent to our Constitution. Never before has this been argued in a High Court. However, as such a political and controversial issue, this story has yet to be truly exposed. Under our Constitutional right to privacy, this case hangs in balance of what the government deems private and not. A truly unprecedented case that has wide spread implications on all American rights.

Furthermore, how many more youth must perish, thinking that suicide is preferable that being labeled as gay?

Please also note that it is not our intention, in any way, to claim that all police are bad officers. Those who have a sworn oath and duty to protect and serve, we truly thank and honor. However, in this case, we are speaking of cops who obviously forgot about that very same sworn oath.

Myles of Destruction "Moth Curiosity"

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Myles of Destruction
Running Only Makes the Fire Worse.
CDR
(Burst Into Flames, 2002)

Years ago, there was a Yahoo! group called QueerMetal. I think. Hey, it's been a while, OK? I vaguely remember Myles Donovan posting there and talking a bit about his band, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I finally heard them, when I stumbled across a used copy of their split 7" EP with noisesters Abiku. Both sides of the record were pretty neat, so I sought out more by each.

Aquarius Records in San Francisco turned out to have a few Myles of Destruction CDRs listed on their site, so I ordered what they had. It happened that they were actually sold out of everything, but they contacted Myles and he found copies of today's jukebox parent and an earlier EP, Doom Town. All four songs on the latter were redone for Running Only Makes the Fire Worse., and, while they were already good, they were definitely improved.

It's not an easy task, sometimes, trying to genre-fy an artist, and guitarless trio Myles of Destruction are one of the tougher ones! The fuzz bass and drumming are rather aggressive, while the violin work brings to (my) mind, East European folk music. So, I've coined a new term: gyspy grind. Interestingly, the vocals remind me very strongly of the band Asa Nisi Masa, whom I featured here earlier this year, and who shared the same instrumental modus operandi: vocals, violin, bass, drums.

Wayne County & The Electric Chairs "Cry of Angels"

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Wayne County & The Electric Chairs
Storm the Gates of Heaven
LP
(Safari, 1978)

I have to admit knowing not a lot about Wayne County, other than he was an early fixture on the New York proto-punk/punk scene. All I'd heard until recently was a few fairly raunchy but musically bland songs on compilations. I knew he was originally from Georgia, where I now reside, and that he'd moved to New York at some point, obviously.

A few months ago, though, I came across a used copy of this LP from 1978 that I'd never seen before, and decided to give it a chance. It turned out to be a pretty darn good punk album, and today's song is my favorite from it.

When Storm the Gates of Heaven was recorded, Wayne performed in outrageous drag. At some point, though, Wayne transitioned and became Jayne County, the first (only?) trans woman punk rock star. She still performs and records to this day. In fact, a review of a recent show here in Atlanta was what prompted me to give this album a shot. Well, that and seeing interview clips over the years with Jayne that were usually pretty hilarious.

The Gossip "I Want It (To Write)"

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The Gossip
Flying Side Kick
Home Alive Compilation II
compilation CD
(Broken Rekids, 2001)

You know how niteclubs typically play music over the PA between sets by the bands performing that night? Well, I was at The Echo Lounge (R.I.P.) one night a number of years ago, and the soundguy had something playing that blew my mind. It was definitely punk rock, but 'twas very stripped down and had obvious blues and gospel influences. Plus, the singer could belt it out like nobody's business. I asked what it was, and was told it was the album Movement by a band I'd never heard of before, Gossip (video below for the song that snagged my ear the hardest).

Gossip originally hailed from Arkansas, but I imagine that's not the ideal place for a trio of queer punx to live and play, so they'd moved to the Pacific Northwest. They also originally had a The at the front of their name. I actually prefer it that way, but it's not my band so I don't get a say.

These days, Gossip are practically a disco band. I still enjoy their music, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the older stuff. Today's song is from those early, raw, punk-as-a-bad-word days. It appeared on the Flying Side Kick compilation CD, which was released to raise money for Home Alive, a non-profit anti-violence organization that teaches self-defense to women and girls for free.

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Floor "Twink"

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Floor
Floor
CD
(No Idea, 2002)

Floor are another band I missed out on the first time 'round. Luckily, after splitting in 1996, they reconvened in 2001 with a new drummer and a new take on their brand of extremely heavy sludge: vocalist/guitarist/leader Steve Brooks decided to experiment with singing melodically, rather than barking out the lyrics as on their earlier recordings. This annoyed some long-time fans, who took to message boards and the like to express their ire about the new, gay vocal style. The joke was on them, though, as Steve came out as gay around the same time.

Hah!

Tragically, Steve's boyfriend was killed in a horrible car accident while Floor were on tour on the other side of the country. The loss threw him into a tailspin, naturally, and the band never recovered. Steve eventually bounced back, though, with his new combo Torche, who are every bit as kick ass.

Floor got together for a short series of reunion shows a couple of years ago, and I was lucky enough to attend the second one. Since the band had gone through a few different line-ups, they played three different sets, with three different assemblages playing material contemporary to each. It was incredible. The two shows in Atlanta were filmed and recorded for a double-DVD set, Sight & Seen, released by Chunklet. If you watch closely during the version of today's song from the second night, you can see my right fist pumping away furiously in the air.

Today's jukebox selection, Twink, is my favorite from their eponymous, second-to-be-recorded-but-first-to-be-released album. For those not in the know, a twink is a young (18 to 25) gay man with smooth skin and minimal body hair.

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NOTA BENE: In conjunction with the above-mentioned reunion shows, Robotic Empire released a massive box set, Below & Beyond, containing everything Floor ever recorded. Consider it highly recommended!

Cream Abdul Babar "Temple of Doom"

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Cream Abdul Babar
The Backwater of Masculine Ethics
CD
(Albert Ayler's Jukebox Records/What's Wrong with Your Eye? Records, 1997)

Southern Voice was the main LGBT paper in the Atlanta area when I moved here. Music coverage was usually relegated to the latest from Madonna, or dance music, or lesbians with acoustic guitars. Nothing against any of those things, but none of them are all that interesting to me, for the most part. I happened to read an article right around the turn of the century, however, about a band from Florida with an openly gay member, noisician Tradd Sanderson, called Cream Abdul Babar. They were playing at The Echo Lounge that week (hence the article), so I decided to give them a shot, music as-yet unheard. As it turned out, they were a juggernaut of pretty monstrous proportions: heavy, noisy, metallic, and punk as <expletive deleted>. They were not, however, a ska punk band. I say this because I have seen them referred to as such on at least one occasion. See, there's a guy who plays trombone, and they have a silly pun for a name, so they must be ska punk, right?

Gahhhhhh . . .

Today's song is from their first full-length album, The Backwater of Masculine Ethics. It's been out of print for many years, but was reissued (less one track) as the first disc of the collection Excavation: 1993-1998, released by Public Guilt in 2004. The missing track was a cover of John Cage's 4:33, minus about 15 seconds and renamed 22:07.

Sadly, they split up several years ago. The last time I saw them was just shy of five years ago, when they played at The Masquerade with one of my favorite local combos, now also sadly disbanded, Light Pupil Dilate.

Limp Wrist "I Love Hardcore Boys, I Love Boys Hardcore"

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Limp Wrist
Thee Official Limp Wrist Discography
CD
(Arashikage Records/Cheap Art Records/Golden Shower Records/Lengua Armada, 2005)

Biki asked for some punk the other day, so here some is.

^_^

I was late to the party on Limp Wrist. I didn't hear about them 'til they'd already been split up for a few years, though they're apparently now back together. I'd seen them mentioned a few times as a slammin' queercore band when I happened across their CD Thee Official Limp Wrist Discography in a bargain bin. Naturally, I snapped it up for home listening.

Now, I'd heard a few queercore bands and most of what I'd heard was on the pop-punk side, like Pansy Division, whom I featured during last year's LGBT History Month. Limp Wrist, on the other hand, sounded like they came raging straight right outta the early 80s: raw, angry, fast as hell, and loud as a very, very bad word.

Listening to this CD makes me all the more bummed I missed out on them back then. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll hit the road to my town one day. Fingers crossed!

Christ Child "Five Finger Exercise"

Christ Child
Christ Child
LP
(Buddah Records, 1977)

Back in my late teens/early twenties, about all I listened to was punk rock. I remember seeing this album in used record stores a few times and thinking it looked fake. I mean, something just didn't ring true, especially to a kid hopped up on Black Flag and Minor Threat, you know? I listened to a bit of it at a store with a record player and thought it sounded thin and weak. On top of that, there were the liner notes:

Oh, come on!

Decades passed, I grew up, and I came across a posting of the entire album on a music blog. Naturally, I downloaded it, 'cause it sucked, right? It oughta be good for a laugh, right?

Oh, crap.

I liked it. I liked it a lot. Off I went, in search of a real copy. I checked all the local used record stores but to no avail. I looked around on-line, but copies were usually pricey. I forget where I eventually found one, but I snagged a copy in amazing condition. On top of that, it wasn't a cut-out! Every copy I saw when I was a kid had a corner cut off. I ripped it to digital, did some very minimal clean-up, made myself a CDR of it, and couldn't stop listening to it! Sure, the sound was a bit thin, as I remembered, but the songs were catchy as all get out. It may have been artifice, but that doesn't mean it wasn't art, you know?

A bit of research turned up the real story, and, just as I had always suspected, it was, indeed, a total con job. Let me qualify that a bit: a fake, but a great album, nonetheless. Per the man responsible, Richard Monda, aka Daddy Dewdrop:

. . . in 1977 I was approached to do a project of my choosing. Of course it was under financed but…OF MY CHOOSING, were the operative words. In all the years I had been working in music I never had anyone say those words. I jumped at the chance. I had recently returned from London where I recorded in a studio where both the Beatles and the Stones had recorded but also above the studio was where The Sex Pistols stored their equipment so I used to see them dragging the amps etc. up the stairs and letting them smash into each step as they went to their storage room. I was fascinated by their angst and that still holds true to this day. Their basic attitude was lack of respect for anything including their instruments. I had been accused of the same thing many times in my career so I got it immediately. I wanted to try something in that genre.

You can read the whole, not-sordid tale on his blog, here.

Buddah probably released it with the hopes of cashing in on the punk scene (sorry, no big money in that for well over another decade), but the man responsible for the tunage did it out of love for the music, rather than a desire to cash in. I imagine that's a big part of why it may not be legit but is still pretty darn great.

Now, here's a strange thing. It's been reissued . . . sorta. You can purchase it, re-titled as Crazy, Dirty & Dangerous, from Amazon as a burnt-on-demand CDR, or as a digital download from Amazon or iTunes.

Teen Wheat "Le Monte de Christo"

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Teen Wheat
Teen Wheat vs. Old Wheat
CD
(Dead Medium Records, 2004)

Not much I can tell you about Teen Wheat, sadly. Well, I can tell you one of the members worked at the local club The E.A.R.L. back then (and still does today, as he was working the door at the Jucifer show I attended recently). I saw them a couple of times last decade, and they were a relentless bulldozer of punk rock goodness.

Teen Wheat vs. Old Wheat was their only release.

I love it.

'Nuff said.

Brass Castle "And the City"

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Brass Castle
Get on Fire
CD
(Drazzig Records, 2003)

Please forgive the long delay since my last post; I've just started a new job, and my time for the blog has been a bit compromised, as a result.

So . . .

There have been a lot of great bands from the Atlanta area over the decades both that I've lived here and the time before. Some have gained international stardom, like The Black Crowes, some have been regarded with undeserved scorn, such as the Hampton Grease Band*, but scads more have flown under the radar.

For this Local to Me Theme Week, I've been primarily, OK almost entirely, covering that last category; Brass Castle, sadly, fits there.

I first saw them when they played with Axehandle at The Star Bar. I knew nothing about them other than they were recent-ish transplants from Florida, and I'd been told they rocked. I forget who it was that told me, but he was right.

Now, admittedly, I have a thing for two-piece bands, or duos, to use the vernacular. I also have a thing for loud guitars, as regular listeners may have noticed. Chaos is also almost always a plus. Brass Castle's setup is basic: a guitar, an amp, a drum kit, two guys, three legs. Chris (Strawn) owns two thirds of that last item, while Christian (Gordy) has one third of them plus the prosthetic to the right. Lest you think I'm being limbist for mentioning it, the picture is from the booklet for their eponymous album on Velocette Records.

Where does the chaos enter? Well, their song structures are anything but conventional, and things often veer off in completely unexpected directions. Added to that are vocals that are often shouted, yelped, and incomprehensible. Then there's the performance. Chris is the rock'n'roll showman: windmilling his guitar, jumping and landing in splits while soloing, skidding across the stage on his knees, etc. Christian, on the other hand, is the loose cannon: drunk, screaming, nearly falling over constantly. Amazingly, I can think of only one show I ever saw where he keeled over while trying to kick one of his stomp boxes with his good leg while balancing precariously on the prosthetic.

A couple of things really stuck out at that first show mentioned above. Other than the fact that they rocked like an Oedipus Complex, of course. At some point, Chris sat at the drums and started to kick the bass drum (I think it was the bass drum) slowly, while encouraging the audience to clap along. When I say slowly, I mean so slowly as to make it impossible for the average listener to catch the beat well enough to accompany it. Along with that, at some point a couple of young women entered the bar and headed for the back, a feat which requires pretty much passing in full view of the stage when the crowd is sparse. Christian was tuning his guitar when he saw them, stopped and addressed them from the stage: Hello, ladies! He was rather sweaty and drunk at this point, it being partway through their set, and the poor women looked as though they were certain Christian's mere gaze could infect them with all manner of horrific ailments. Why is this even funny to me? Come on! They were in a dive bar with loud, sweaty rock 'n' roll bands playing, not at the gosh darn cotillion!

Today's song is from Brass Castle's formal debut album, Get on Fire. In addition to it, there are three other full-length albums, or four, if you count the other one, which I will explain in due course.

Their first release was actually a 7" EP, John Derek, which they recorded as a trio.

Their first duo release was their demo CDR Doing the Best They Can. It's actually longer than all of their other releases, and features a number of songs that never got redone for their later albums.

Following the release of Get on Fire, Brass Castle got signed by Velocette Records, the new label started by Capricorn Records co-founder Phil Walden, when Capricorn got killed in the dreaded Major Label Wars of the early 21st Century. Their first, and last, album for the label, which was sadly short-lived, was the aforementioned eponymous one.

Their final album, Cancer Daze, was recorded way back in 2007, but sat in the can until they finally released it themselves as a digital download in late 2010. I believe it was due to be released by Hoss Records, as there was mention on their old website of a forthcoming Brass Castle release.

So what's that other one, you ask?

Remember back in 2003 when fellow duodenal ATLiens OutKast released their dbl-CD Speakerboxxx/The Love Below? You know, the one where each guy got one disc all to hisself? In 2005, Chris and Christian did the same thing with the release of their dbl-CDR Chris Castle/Brass Gordy. There's a couple of differences, of course. For one, the latter was fairly limited; my copy is hand-numbered #7. The more important difference, however, is Chris Castle/Brass Gordy is a solid release from start to finish, as opposed to a bloated release with a handful of killer singles fleshed out with inane skits and copious amounts of filler. Four of Chris's songs were re-released on his 2008 debut solo album I Left My Hat in Hades, an amazing album that was one of my Top Ten favorites of that year.

NOTA BENE: Drazzig Records is an odd name for a label, huh? Well, turn it around and it spells Gizzard, the name of Chris's former band down in FLA. At that same time, Christian was a member of Dampading, whom I've also featured here.

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*The lone album by the Hampton Grease Band, Music to Eat, was long claimed to be the second worst selling album in Columbia Records history. I cannot comment on the veracity of this claim, but I can tell you the album rules, and it was eventually given the swell-deserved deluxe reissue treatment. After the death of guitarist Harold Kelling, whom I featured in the early days of this blog, they did a reunion concert here in town. It was hands down the best show I attended that year.

Mission for Christ "Nancy Reagan Is a Plastic Bitch"

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Mission for Christ
2 Jews, a Black, a Woman and a Cripple...
cassette
(self-released, 1983)

Politicians sometimes (ok, often) say really stupid stuff. Take former U.S. Secretary of the Interior James Watt, for example. In September of 1983, he decided to jokingly mock Affirmative Action policies by pointing out the wonderful diversity of an advisory panel with whom he was working. He chose to illustrate this by saying the board had, a black . . . a woman, two Jews and a cripple. Of course, that's pretty tame compared to what former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz said in 1976 about a particular segment of the population: I'll tell you what the coloreds want. It's three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit.

The latter was the inspiration for the European title of Alex Chilton's final studio album, Loose Shoes and Tight Pussy. His US record company timidly retitled it Set, however, and replaced the nice cover with a particularly ugly one, to boot.

The first quote above, however, was immortalized in the title of Mission for Christ's 1983 demo tape, 2 Jews, a Black, a Woman and a Cripple... The ugliness of Watt's comment complements the ugliness of the music quite nicely. From what I recall, they had a Black on bass, and the singer may have been Jewish. It's been 25 years, however, so I have no recollection of the guitarist or drummer, though I'm fairly certain neither was a Woman [or] a Cripple.

You'll notice on the typed sticker glued to the cassette case that this song is entited simply Nancy Reagan. Well, when I saw them play it live, it had the much longer title as written above, so I chose it instead. It's my blog; you can't stop me. Please forgive the somewhat spotty sound on this one; it was dubbed on a cheap tape twenty-five years ago. I don't know how many they made, but the sticker being manually typed (please, see above) would seem to suggest not many. Who knows, I may have (politely) harrassed them into selling me the tape. It could be the only copy! I doubt it, though.

Though Mission for Christ were a Washington, D.C. area band, they got little attention, sadly. I went though all of my D.C. 'zines from the period and found precisely one mention of them: a short bit in a review of the Rock Against Reagan preview show at Space II Arcade in 1983. If I remember correctly, they and Maryland's Braille Party were the standouts on that (very long) day. It was summer, it was boiling hot, there was no air conditioning, and the friends I took with me kept whining all day:

• Who's playing next?
• When's the next band going to play?
• Are we there yet?
• I have to go potty.
• etc.

Mission for Christ eventually released the song Pennies from Hell as a single, along with the dub version for the b-side. I've always wondered why they did that instead of, perhaps, using Nancy Reagan for the flip? From what I recall, it got good reviews outside of D.C. Sadly, they never released anything else. They do have the distinction, though, of being the only band other than No Trend to be preserved in wax on No Trend Records.