THE SPECTATORS

BUGGIN’ OUT ON THE INVADERS OF SURF/SPY/BAD ACID.

They didn’t do more than 20 gigs. They only played about 15 songs live. But their reputation has grown so much over the past three decades that musicians who were just kids when the band played have heard of them. I saw their first gig December 8th 1980. The same day John Lennon was gunned down in New York City. It was just like most other night at Seattle’s legendary Gorilla Room on Second Ave. Just a handful of people showed up, and more free beer was drunk up by the bar staff and their buddies than was ever sold. Just like a lot of other nights at The Gorilla Room, one of the finest bands of the era played to a near empty house. Over the next few months the band would be regulars at the Gorilla Room. By Summer, Bob Mould, having heard them on with Husker Du‘s first national tour, called them “the greatest unsigned band in America“. A year later they were gone.
Byron Duff, Jeff Farrand and Stan Filarca made their dent on the Seattle music scene of the 1980’s as The Spectators. Their combination of surf, metal, jazz and punk predates bands with similar influences…like Primus… by a full decade. They were a power-trio, but one that dealt their deadly blows with intricate and subtle precision rather than blind swings. This was a band that had brains as well as brawn. By using a limited amount of effects, guitarist Byron Duff and bass player Stan Filarca created a sound so tightly woven that it was hard to tell who was playing lead, where the rhythm was coming from and how they could possibly sound so big. Add to the mix the powerful, inventive and perfect tempo of drummer Jeff Farrand. It’s hard to think of any finer trio in rock, signed or unsigned even today.
During their short life The Spectators managed to record more than most Seattle bands of the era. Notable was a live-in-studio session they did with producer/engineer Ed Shepard at his place The Funhole in Fremont. But only a few cassette tracks remain of those sessions, although two songs ended up on the 1982 compilation PRAVDA Volume I. The cassettes are incredibly rare, and those that remain are old and warn-out. But the brilliance of The Spectators still shines through. Both tracks, FINE LINES and IDIOT CULTURE are typical of the band’s live performance. They show the deft ability to overlap bass, rhythm and lead guitar sections into their music so effectively that it can confound the listener into thinking there are far more guitars at work.
After The Spectators disbanded guitarist Byron Duff faded from the Seattle scene, much to it loss. Drummer Jeff left the NW for San Francisco. Bassist Stan Filarca managed to fill duties of another of Seattle’s best bands to emerge in the 1980s The Beat Pagodas. Filarca used the same creative arsenal as he did in The Spectators. A few very well placed effects and superb musicianship filled -in for any lack of a lead or rhythm guitar. It was Filarca’s ability to handle The Beat Pagoda’s instrumental needs that allowed them to revel in their “No Guitar” motto. Byron Duff emerged very briefly in the 1990’s, and dropped back into obscurity….to this day he’s still M.I.A. Duff’s brilliant guitar playing would come as a revelation today. He was no slacker in the lyrics department either. That first night the band played The Gorilla Room an old beat-up big screen TV projected flickering images behind them. As someone behind the bar changed channels back and forth they stopped on an old sci-fi flick. Giant locusts were attacking a horrified city. At that moment, by coincidence, the band lit into one of their signature tunes, Idiot Culture As the creatures wrecked havoc and terrified the population Byron sang:
There is
Something of great size
Out of control in the head
Of an insect
Of an insect.
Great size and out of control…a perfect way to describe The Spectators

THE REUZORS FIND THEIR FAITH

I remember The Refuzors back in their heyday; when they were A-list Seattle punk rockers. They were one of the best live bands around. Uncompromising, edgy and raw. They could have been lumped in with alot of hardcore bands from that era but for one thing. The songwriting, mostly by guitarist and vocalist Mike Refuzor set them far ahead of other great Seattle bands like The Fartz or The Blackouts.

These guys never made it out of the confines of the Vancouver/Seattle/Portland alt vortex. I’m sure they never made a penny, but The Refuzors were the real deal. Totally without guile or bullshit, their lives and music were undistinguishable. They were hombres, outside the lines with fiercely loyal fans. By the late 80’s though, the band slowly unraveled from drugs, alcohol, a generational shift in music and limited recognition outside the Northwest. It’s a typical story, but it’s without a typical ending. Read on.

In 1993 Mike Refuzor got some of his band mates back together and recorded two sides for the now defunct Seattle label ‘Bag of Hammers’. The results are spectacular. ‘Think I Lost My Faith’ and ‘Jim Jones’ might just be the missing link between the brilliant NW underground scene of the 1980’s and the brilliant but over-hyped ‘grunge’ of the 90’s. Unfortunately Bag of Hammers released only 800 copies of the single and without any promotion it went nowhere. That in itself has made this a long sought-after single. I’d bet my balls somewhere there’s still a stack that were never sold….It’s that rare. Meanwhile Mike ended up in a spiral that eventually left him on the street. In the early 2000’s he suffered a mild stroke and without the support from his old friends and fans he became nearly unknown to the generation who cut their teeth on grunge.

Recently I came across a copy of the ‘Bag of Hammers’ single and was completely caught off guard. The Refuzors were always a great live act, but I only know of one other recorded song available anywhere. ‘White Power’ was included on the Seattle Syndrome compilation put out in 1981 by Engram Records. ‘White Power’ was a great track, and possibly could have gotten college radio airplay if it weren’t for it’s misleading title. The song was directed at an ill-informed Seattle rock critic and her assumption that Mike’s black leather had something to do with fascism. Remember, this was 25 years ago. The chorus screams:

‘I never said White Power to you…White Power, I’m sayin’ it now. You put those words in my mouth”

Both ‘Think I Lost My Faith’ and ‘Jim Jones’ have big guitars and upfront drums & bass that defy the typical punk rhythm section. Mike’s vocals are torn-ragged and raw, but not like every other cookie-cutter hardcore vocalist. This is real pain; not fake angst. There’s a beautiful, passionate cruelty at work here. These songs are a brilliant mix of writing and delivery. This is classic stuff. Stuff that makes me want to howl and cry and bang my head at the same time. Stuff that proves my theory; The greatest bands in the world will probably never be heard. Most will never make it outside their garage door.

The atypical ending? The lives of some of The Refuzors have taken turns for the better. Mike’s off the street, healthy and making a go at being clean and sober. Sixteen years after they were recorded both songs…along with an entire album’s worth of material…Are about to be re-released. The Refuzors may never end up onstage again…who knows? But we’ll have a permanent reminder of their contribution to the outrageous success far less talented Seattle bands had in the 90’s. I don’t know if The Refuzors were some of the ‘Shoulders of Giants’ grunge bands stood on, or if they were just garage-bound guys that got stepped on and tossed aside when the music biz smelled cash. It doesn’t matter. Think I Lost My Faith’ and ‘Jim Jones’ are fucking brilliant, fucking beautiful masterpieces even if they never get heard….But they will. Just you wait…You’ll hear them.

NW PUNK: 30 Years of Punk Rock on a 2 disc DVD set

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO BUY THE DVD. ONLY $9.98 FOR TWO DISCS!

For two years Dave Alexander searched attics, basements and various storage lockers to come up with live clips of some of the Northwest’s  best punk rock.  Along the way he interviewed people like Joey Shithead (D.O.A) and Mark Arm (Mudhoney) to help tell the story of 30 years of hardcore punk from Vancouver BC, through Bellingham, Seattle and Olympia WA and on to Portland and Eugene OR.
Dave’s D.I.Y. production culminated in this 2 DVD documentary.  It shows the passion and life-blood of NW hardcore punk through it’s infancy to it’s current incarnation.  It’s a gritty, down-to-earth and totally chaotic celebration.  It contains little-seen archival footage of some of the Northwest’s legendary bands shot at some of the Northwest’s  most famous punk venues:  The Metropolis and The Funhouse in Seattle; Satyricon in Portland, and more.
An entire disc is devoted to live music and the other is documentary, with an incredible line-up of bands. The Dishrags, Subhumans, The Fartz, Maggot Brains, Hot rod Lunatics, Solger, The Rickets, The Meyce, Mr. Epp and the Calculations, Zipgun, D.O.A., The Slashers, Subvert, The Insurgence, The Rebel Spell, TBA, Leper,  The Dreadful Children, Potbelly, Swads, The Furies, Flash, Fitz of Depression….and….let me catch my breath….more.
The 2 disc DVD is available now through our mail order catalogue for only $9.98.…yeah, that’s right…less than 10 smackeroos.

LATEST PRAISE FOR SEATTLE LEGEND “UPCHUCK” CD. JAYNE COUNTY SET TO RECORD WITH THE FAGS

UPCHUCK: GONE BUT NOT FORGIVEN A career-spanning collection of the music of Charles "Upchuck" Gerra is available at: www.dadastic.com

MORE PRAISE FOR SEATTLE LEGEND CHARLES “UPCHUCK” GERRA ALBUM.

The latest praise for Seattle legend Charles “UPCHUCK” Gerra is found in the Feb 27th 2008 issue of GOLDMINE MAGAZINE. The magazine gives it’s approval to a career-spanning collection entitled UPCHUCK:GONE BUT NOT FORGIVEN. The CD and digital album was recently released, and it’s getting high marks from critics . Bloggers from Seattle to Austin to Argentina have been taking note. THE ADVOCATE magazine went as far as dubbing UPCHUCK “The Gay Cobain”. Although the comparison is not musically accurate, Upchuck, who died from complications of AIDS in 1990 has long been cited as one of the leading inspirations of Seattle’s alternative music scene.

GOLDMINE calls the recently released album UPCHUCK: GONE BUT NOT FORGIVEN “a welcome release that gives people greater insight into the lesser-known aspects of Seattle’s music history“. This echoes Seattle author Charles R. Cross’s own evaluation. Cross, who’s Kurt Cobain bio ‘Heavier Than Heaven’ is being filmed as a major release says

“This long-awaited CD from the legendary Charles “Upchuck” Gerra finally sets right one of the lost chapters in Seattle’s pre-grunge music era. Essential for anyone who loves punk rock, glam rock, or just groundbreaking music of any genre.” The CD and digital download are available at amazon, i-tunes and all the other usual places, or go directly to www.dadastic.com .

SEATTLE’S NOTORIOUS  BAND ‘THE FAGS’ TO RECORD WITH JAYNE COUNTY

With all the renewed interest, Upchuck’s former band, THE FAGS have reformed and are currently writing and recording. The Fags include Ben Ireland (now of SKY CRIES MARY) noted American poet/painter Dahny Raphael and Barbara Ireland who is currently touring and recording with PEARL JAM’s STONE GOSSARD. They’ve added a new member, Dave LaDouche to the band and plan on live regional and national dates in 2009.

THE FAGS are also preparing to record with JAYNE COUNTY. Jayne is an icon of the American underground who started her career as Wayne County. She leapt to notoriety as a leading light of the NYC punk rock scene that grew up around downtown nightspots like CBGB’s and THE MUD CLUB. The match-up seems tailor-made. The Fags were early practitioners of onstage theatrics and outrage. Jayne County is no stranger to outrage as a performer, and she’s an outspoken proponent of gay and transgendered rights.

For more information, review CD’s, photos etc. contact

Dennis White

dennis@dadastic.com