From Randy Duerr - Where did the name Middle Monkey come from? I was looking for something loosely based in Eastern Spiritual Philosohy. There was this character, "Monkey Monkey", that used to play tricks on the gods, but that didn't quite sound right, plus I didn't want to get us confused with The Monkees. So I thought about the "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' monkeys, and thought the "hear no evil" guy, the Middle Monkey seemed to fit the bill.
THE MIDNIGHT RIDERS
Years Playing 1968-1970
Members:
Mike Paul
John Paul
Steve Hieronymous
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to: Oedipus
THE MILLIONS
Years Playing 1989 - 1995
Members:
Lori Allison - Vocals
Harry Dingman III - Guitar
Marty Amsler- Bass
Greg Hill - Drums
Ben Kushner - Guitar
Mike Keeling - Bass (1995)
Releases:
Linoma Comp - 1994 - ism Recordings /Fire Records
M Is For Millions 1991
Raquel 1994
Members came from: New Brass Guns
Members went to Kitten, GIO, Floating Opera, The Self-Righteous Brothers
The Millions at #21 on the Chart, beating out Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and many other big acts. Note Lincolnite Matthew Sweet also holds spots #10 and #38
From Marty Amsler - The memoirs of one who's had the unique experience of being a part of
incredible nights of music at Duffy's from behind the bar, in the audience, and on stage:
While touring, we would often run into road haggard, ripe bands that had played at Duffy's. The quote that sums it up best was "It felt like a hot shower and a home cooked meal." Probably because after shows, members in the audience would offer their homes as a crash pad.
Friendships were forged that remain today. Everyone who gladly paid three bucks at the door to support their favorite local band, or a touring act who they had never heard of made Duffy's much more than a bar that had a stage and cheap beer.
Having played at bars and clubs throughout the U.S. and Europe, we never experienced more enthusiastic and forgiving supporters and critics. I would chalk it up to being from Lincoln, but I witnessed the same Duffy's hospitality to countless bands traveling through.
But I'd have to say that the most memorable nights at Duffy's included any combination of Thirteen Nightmares, Trout Mystery, the Leafy Green Things, Sideshow, Mercy Rule, The New Brass Guns, Elysium Crossing, The Return, For Against, The Millions, Flesh Petal, and the Yard Apes, playing on the same bill. It was a time before local bands even dreamed of being signed. It was a time when a group of friends would get together in a basement with a case of beer and pawn shop instruments and exorcise their demons of heartbreak, society, or mad ravings about god knows what. They then felt like the luckiest people on the planet to play those songs to five people for ten bucks while college cover bands were playing "I melt with you" at frat gigs for a grand. It was about getting on stage, having a blast, and then watching your friends in the other bands do their thing. It was about the audience, which some nights consisted mainly of the other band members, erupting in applause after a nervous guitar player pulled off a great solo. It was about sharing equipment - and the occasional drummer. It was about pooling the take from the door to buy old style for the after hours party.
MIND'S EYE
Years Playing: Mid 1990's
Members:
Tim Masters - Guitar, Vocals
Ken Whitmore - Guitar, Vocals
Travis Samuelson - Drums
Cris Trautner - Bass
Releases:
Members came from: Cold Facts
Members went to: Orange
MINDSPRAY
Years Playing: 0000 - 0000
Members:
Lance Lehman - Guitar, Vocals
Jeff Perry - Drums
Rick Conrad - Bass (replaced by...)
Jamie Cox - Bass (replaced by...)
Jim Meyers - Bass
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to: Flo, Lune
MINUTIA STEW
Years Playing 2000 - present
Members:
Michael Fancy (Decatur) - Lead vocals, Guitar
Jared Bader - Lead Guitar
Jeff Gustafson - Drums
Ryan Gorka - bass, Vocals (2000-2004)
Amos Joseph - Guitar, Bass (2004- )
Previously with:
Kim Aspaugh - Keyboards
Releases:
Minutia Stew - Demo CD
Demolicious - 2004 - Demo CD
Members came from: The Hot Carls
Members went to: Suzy Dreamer & Her Nightmares, The Static Octopus, Sad Old Lady, Fountainhead
MIRAGE
Years Playing 1978-1980
Members:
Bev Jester - vocals
Jamie Krutz - guitar
Artie Ericson - bass
Tim ROper Keyboards, Flute
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
MISASOCIAL
Years Playing: Early 1990's
Members:
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
MISS LONELY HEARTS
Years Playing Late 1970's
Members:
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
MISTER BABY
Years Playing 2001 - 2002
Members:
Kristen Bailey - vocals
Julee Dunekacke- guitar
Jen Dunekacke- bass
Courtney Nore- drums
Releases:
Mister Baby - 2001
Members came from: The Black Dahlias, Sockeye Marigold
Members went to: The Honey Hush, Suzy Dreamer & Her Nightmares, The Bad Sects, The Hornrimjobs
From Julee Dunekacke -
1. Pablo's Triangle w/Clean Plate Club (and Polecat reunion)? June 2000.
This was the first show I ever saw at Duffy's. It was also my first time drinking Old Style. It was also my first time seeing Pawl Tisdale, Matt Focht, Ben Armstrong, Colby Stark...etc, etc play. I was awe-stricken. It was a nice kick in the ass that made me think, "Heeeey, why don't I play here sometime?"
2. The Black Dahlias/13 County/The Holy Ghost July 4th Spectacular 2001. Fireworks? We don't need no stinking fireworks! If I ever leave Lincoln, I want a homecoming like that. There were more guest singers jumping on stage than I could count, each one possessed by the spirit of rock'n'roll. Tery Daly jumped on stage with The Black Dahlias, Chris Goeden and a few others jumped on stage with the Holy Ghost. (I also recall Rich Higgins jumping on
stage, but at this point, I can't confirm that!) If Charles would've kept his shirt on, this show would have been #1. Just kidding, Charles.
3. HOLS/ Drive-by Honky in June 2001. Drive-by Honky was in top form, weaning everyone off of Thrift Americana with some kickass new songs. HOLS almost brought the stage down. They were hot off of their tour with Frank Black. This is how RAWK should be.
4. The 13 County cd release show w/the W.T. The W.T. pulled out an awesome cover of 13 County's "Wanderin' William", which I not only found entertaining, but very hilarious at the same time. They also featured an ultra-slow version of "At My Weakest", which was a nice change from the norm. 13 County unleashed the song "80's goin' 90", which didn't make it on to the new album. Chris jumped off of an amp or two and the drum set during the final song.
5.Betty Blowtorch w/Mister Baby. Ok, so I'm biased on this one because I'm in Mister Baby. It was by far the best show Mister Baby has played, despite the drums falling apart during "Cemetery Mary". Having the Betty Blowtorch gals in the front cheering us on and taking pictures of us didn't hurt. It was an interesting crowd too. There were many regulars in attendance, but also many people who didn't normally come to shows that really turned the excitement up a notch.
Runner up: The Crush the Clown show where Nick pulled apart his guitar at the end. He turned around to face the audience with this look of joy that I had never seen from him before. Not sure when this show was, but it was a great moment.
THE MEDIUMS
Years Playing: 1997-present
Members:
James B. Schaffner - Voice, guitar
Timothy P. Moran - Bass
Mark E. Anderson - drums
Releases
The Mediums - 1998
Caved In - 2000
Members came from:
Members went to: The Mediums are still together, but they moved to NY in 2001
MOD LANG
Years Playing: 200?-2004
Members:
Brandon Schneider - Vocals/Guitar
Drew DeCamp - Guitar
Scott DeCamp - Drums
??? - Drums
Releases
Members came from:
Members went to:
MODEL CITIZEN'S CLUB
Years Playing: 19??-????
Members:
Danny Okane - Vocals, Guitar
Brian Sistek - Percussion
James Robson - Drums
Stuart Cary - Bass
???? ??? - Keyboards
Releases
Members came from: The Jets, The Ripchords
Members went to:
THE MODS (or MODDS)
Years Playing: 1966 - 1968
Members: (this was several lineups, not all at once)
John Snyder
Red Freeman
Denny Rogers
Jim Schafer
Ron Burngarner
Steve Reed
Tom Hinds
Jim Reimuth
Byron "Butch" Berman
Releases
Dry My Eyes b/w Rosalee 45 - 1967 - Fona Records
Members came from:
Members went to:
MOLOTOV COCKTAILS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
Years Playing: ???? - ????
Members:
Andrea Davis - Drums, Vocals
Ann Carol - Vocals, Drums
Josh Dake - Guitar
Ellie Erikson - Bass
Releases:
Members came from: XXY, Pablo's Triangle
Members went to: Erase Erata, Sweettarts
MONA LISA OVERDRIVE
Years Playing: 1991 - 1993
Members:
Greg Markel - Guitar, Vocals
Travis Saunders - Bass
????
????
Releases:
Members came from: King Friday
Members went to: Juno (Seattle)
From Kevin Gregorious: I used to have a tape I recorded from the radio of their performance at the first Big Red Rock-O-Rama. They played their last show (for us!) at the Commonplace for one of our first Amnesty Int'l benefits. That show kicked much ass.
MONDELLO
Years Playing: ???? - ????
Members:
Tony Lamar - Vocals
James Valentine - Guitar
Mark Lee - Bass
Shane Rutherford - Drums
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
MOONSHINE
Years Playing: 2002 - 2004
Members:
Clay Masters - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Dylan Fink - Guitar
Ross Felton - Bass
Patrick Swanson - Drums
Releases:
The Inevetiable June EP - 2003
Members came from:
Members went to:
MORBID
Years Playing: 2003 - Present
Members:
Brett Droege - Guitar, Vocals
Tom -
Dustin
Alex "Hoot"
Releases:
3 song demo CD
Members came from:
Members went to:
MORE THAN YESTERDAY
Years Playing: 2004 - Present
Members:
Russ Kempton
Blake Kempton
Dan McMahan
Jeremy Lohrman
Releases:
Members came from: Blacklight Sunshine
Members went to:
MORPHINE ANGEL
Years Playing: 1993 - ????
Members:
John Fynbu - vocals
Paul Macatee - Bass & Programming
M. A. Farrar - Guitar & Programming, art & graphic design
Releases:
An Ashen Dream - four song demo
A Fire in His Hands - six song demo
Project Isa - self released CD
Love Nest, Murder Fest - Delinquent Records
Members came from: Fish Box, Red Max, One Dark Rabbit, Weird Beards
Members went to: Asmodeus X (located in Houston, Texas), minus1 (located in Orlando, Florida)
From Michael Farrar: Picking up on where Fish Box never really went (but wanted to) Morphine Angel continued to attempt to do what wasn't being done in Lincoln at the time - very dark, gothic and heavy industrial. Thinking we'd learned from our mistakes with Fish Box we intentionally did not play very often - and when we did we tried to put on a complete show with light affects, smoke machines, stage props/decorations, etc. The best was probably the Halloween gig at The Edge. (yet another appearance by Sara Kovanda in the audience!!!)
I ended up leaving the group for several reasons, only a couple of them having to do with personality conflicts - mostly it was to take a very well paying job in Florida. I was replaced by our "manager", Barton Wolfe (this would have been the "personality conflict" - we didn't need a "manager", especially not Barton Wolfe). They re-recorded the material that was on the two demos and self released it as 'Project Isa'. see: Sonic Boom for a review (and since the reviewer picks out the track called "Fine Home Design", yes, it was a cover. It was originally written by Jeff Runnings as a Four Against One song that Fynbu sang on. According to Fynbu he asked Runnings if we could do it and was told not only could we do it but that we did not need to credit him as the author. Approximately 3/4 of the songs on "Project Isa" were written by me and were done without my permission (I do actually have the copyrights to those pieces - oh well, no big deal since I'm almost ashamed of having written them now))
Macatee is currently in Texas with a group called Asmodeous X with Brad Marshall.
I think that Fynbu is still flogging the Morphine Angel name around, although I am unsure if he is currently in Nebraska or Chicago.
I left and am now in central Florida with an off-and-on project called 'minus1' - something that can't decide if it's power-pop, gothic-industrial, or progressive metal. Right after leaving Morphine Angel I had a small bit part as one of Sara Kovanda's "dancers" for her Yvette & the heShe show at Panic - I played a weather station radio during the opening number.
"An Ashen Dream" was recorded at Serious Fish Studios by Rob Arnold and "A Fire in His Hands" was recorded at Studio Q by Doug Marx.
From Paul Frederic:
Most of Mike Farrar’s recollections on the early days of M.A are accurate as far as I can recall. I was brought into the project during the gray area between Fish Box and Morphine Angel. I had left Red Max some time ago, generally ‘given up’ on doing music, and was only a step away from joining the Navy when I got the call from Johnny.
Johnny was what you call a ‘natural-born-rock-singer’…I think this was apparent to anyone who ever met him. With little-to-no professional training, he had a voice that could growl and rumble with angst, ring strong with clarity, or croon in a soft and gentle manner that always gave you a sentimental melancholic feeling. He was forever dodging comparisons with Peter Murphy and Ian Curtis, but those who know him knew also that his real hero was always David Bowie. And his look – the thin, disheveled look years before Marylin Manson, which never changed regardless of what he ate (some people have it sooo rough). He was a veritable urban legend, and his name appears all over this website – Hymn to Joy, DBL, and so on.
He also had this way of talking about the dream of doing music that really made you believe. As I later learned, believing is half the battle. Johnny and I were different in so many ways, but I think it was the feeling of being ‘outcasts’ amongst the Lincoln music scene that bonded us together, and kept us fueled in the years that came. Mike – a fellow outcast in his own right - was into philosophy and esotericism, which was something I had been interested in for years, and especially the notion of expressing it via music. It didn’t take long for these guys to give me the ‘band bug’ again.
I wasn’t terribly ‘in the know’ over what happened when Mike left – it was really between him and Johnny. Mike was one of the best MA guitarists ever, and with his keen usage of effects he created an ambience and spacey quality that MA never fully recaptured. However, at the time Mike left, my biggest gripe was that he had been giving me Tae Kwondo lessons at the time, and now I was out one helluva teacher. Barton Wolf might have been pushing it a bit in the beginning by presenting himself as a manager, but what he did have is connections with the goth/industrial scene outside of Nebraska, which was just what we needed. He and his girlfriend, Sid Cook, lived in Omaha. Sid was knowledgeable in regards to the music industry, having herself relocated from Houston, Texas where she had worked with an industrial band called Bamboo Crisis. (Make a mental note of Houston – in comes up again later).
Wolf’s guitar playing took MA toward more of a Ministry sound. He also had an A-Dat player and mixing board, so we could record on our own. This was very significant, as we could save all the time/energy that would have been spent figuring out how to pay one of Lincoln’s 2 or 3 studios of the day, and instead use that money to press our own CD. We founded Black Pepper Records (a name I had used previously for producing my independent film “Shiva”) and this was the vehicle by which we released Project ISA. Lincoln studio guru Eric Medley mastered the first MA album, and in Mike Pardee’s studio. I’d actually attended to Lincoln South East High School with Mike Pardee, but the mastering job was the first opportunity I’d had to really work with him.
Project ISA got it’s fair share of good press outside of Lincoln – Industrial Nation, Blue Blood, Spectre and even overseas in zines like Bat’s and Red Velvet and Dark Angel. It was all print media at the time, and the Sonic Boom review is (unfortunately) one of the only web-based reviews I think it ever got. I also mused over the reviewers comment on Fine Home Design, but chalked it up to coincidence due to the extreme unlikelihood of someone like that actually having a copy of the 15 year-old DBL tape, but who knows. We never got much support from local press of the day, and if you hadn’t seen us walking down “O” Street to our practice space at the Hurricane, you might have never suspected goth/industrial to exist in Lincoln at the time. All our support came from the club/bar scene in Lincoln – Knickerbockers, Duffys, and Hurricane (Earnie, Dave Rabies, and Bubba respectively. Amoree Lovell (who now does her own music in Seattle) got us played on KRNU a couple of times.
The Project ISA concept was all fleshed out by Wolf, Johnny, and me. I was really into the runes at the time, and the rune Isa (ice) – symbolizing strength, stability, and contraction - went into the title, and the Dagaz rune became the main graphic, partially because there was a store called Dagaz in Omaha at the time that supplied us with our Stretch F*CKIN Jeans and Doc Martens. Johnny had the idea of adding a rose on the Dagaz symbol and Brad’s clever pen made it so. This became the famous MA logo that went on all the t-shirts and stickers. I still see those stickers on the walls of bathrooms in goth clubs throughout the country. Along with press photos courtesy Johnny’s wife Tia, we had a package that we could begin doing things with.
With this, MA started touring the U.S. extensively. The Great Lakes area, the South, and the West Coast. Brad Marshal – whom I’d met through Mike and who had done the artwork for Project ISA – joined us during this time as Lighting Tech. I could write a book on all the shenanigans from this period alone. The weather of time and place was the best indicator of whether we adhered to more of a pirate, or Viking, motif. We played with many other bands in the national scene – Apocalypse Theatre, Garden of Dreams, Empire Hideous, Sunshine Blind, Switchblade Symphony, the Electric Hellfire Club, and I’m sure many more I can no longer recall. Also during this time period we came in contact with John Michaels (whom would later co-produce LoveNest MurderFest with me), Thomas Thorn from the Electric Hellfire Club (whom eventually became a good friend), and Jennifer Chen of Spectre Magazine (whom I later discovered was my soul-mate). We also beat Wolf at hearts (card playing in the van was a tradition) more times than I can count, and ne’er did it cease to vex him.
This all went on for about a year. The last tour with Wolf ended in (I believe) the winter of 95. There had been a personality conflict developing between Johnny and Wolf (perhaps having grown from a few to many controversial games of hearts), and it all erupted in a fist-fight between the two of them on the streets of New Orleans – a now almost legendary incident in some circles. One very long, quiet and uncomfortable eight-hour drive later, and we were back in Lincoln -- Wolf back in Omaha. Johnny and Wolf didn’t talk again for many years after that.
The good thing about that New Orleans gig was that we scored a keyboard from a fellow Lincolnite (name escapes me) and Brad was promoted to the stage on his first E-mu. To this day he still prefers E-mu (much to my chagrin).
Paul Fredric at Charles Starkweathers grave.
Wyucka Cemetery, Lincoln NE
(In the background can be seen the infamous M.A.
Tour Van, pre-black spray-paint job.)
Circa Autumn of 1995
It might have all ended there, but then two things happened: 1) John Michaels – a Sound Tech/Producer guy we’d met on the road, called us from a studio in Alabama and said he could get us some free studio time. And 2) the editrix of Dark Angel, an Australian Zine, wanted to bring us over for an Australian tour. It was apparent at this point that Johnny and Wolf weren’t going to patch things up, so I started looking for a new guitarist. Heath Cole (Mannequin Beach, Whiskey Sour Notes, Wide) tried out, but was a bit too energetic (i.e. technically skilled) for our speed. I stumbled upon Carl Gibson, whom I’d known from my One Dark Rabbit days. Turned out, he was one of the 25 or so people in Lincoln then aware of Cleopatra Records – this and his bizarre style got him the job on guitar.
Carl added the most ‘unique’ dimension to MA. He was heavily influenced by Helios Creed and used tons of effects, which brought back some of the early ‘Farrarian spacy-ness’ to the sound. He played guitar unlike anyone else I’d ever seen before or since – like he’d been shut up in a cabin completely isolated for years, and just came up with this style, free from any outside influences. It was actually a bit creepy at times. Yet he was completely on top of all the new stuff that was coming out on Cleopatra Records at the time. Go figure.
Carl and Brad on stage created the MA set-up: Keyboardist in the back center where drums would usually go, Bass to the left and guitar to the right, front-man center. Despite more inevitable line-up changes, this stage set-up would remain an MA constant for years to come.
I set upon writing new music. Brad and I started working together on stuff and on New Years Eve (still 1995, I believe), came up with “Day One” which later became an endearingly dark LoveNest song. Also during this time, Thomas Thorn from Electric Hellfire Club called me about Shane Lassen (EHC keyboardist) dying. This was a heavy thing for a lot of people in our circle at the time who had known Shane, and the song RDL was written in response to that. Soon we hit the road again for some more gigs up north, (had to break Carl in) eventually to plant ourselves at Soundwerks Studios in Decatur, Alabama.
It was a nice, big studio – the real deal (not everyone and their dog was running Power Tools on the home PC quite yet). Michaels had a day job assisting in the studio, and the owners (who also ran Delinquent Records) had given him permission to do his own stuff ‘off hours’. We set to work and recorded all of LoveNest in like three nights. Everyone was really unprepared, and I ended up actually doing a lot of the instrumentation myself, and started to experiment with sampling and loops and stuff. Finally we were done. Soundwerks allowed us to make some demos for shopping, and then told us the catch – they were keeping the masters till we provided them with some money. Apparently there had been a miscommunication, but either way there wasn’t much we could do so we shrugged our shoulders and headed back home to prepare for the Australian tour.
I suppose then it was spring of 96 that we headed to Australia. We drove to LA, left our van with Ryan Springola (Torture Records) in Riverside, and boarded the plane from LAX. We toured up and down the East Coast of Australia for 3 weeks. I could write another book about all the stuff that happened in Oz. We played with Ikon, Immortal, Discordia, and partied with sci-fi writer Storm Constantine. Azriel, who was the editor of Dark Angel magazine and had served as our road manager, had so much fun she decided to come back with us to America for a ‘few more rounds’.
So eventually we found ourselves back in Nebraska. All that, and still we were thoroughly unacknowledged by any of the Lincoln Press of the day. Thomas Thorn from EHC had been trying to get us to move to Kenosha, Wisconsin for sometime, and we now decided to take him up on it. In the mean time, we did more shows at Knickerbockers, where Azriel – an amazon-sized, out-back woman with fire-red dreadlocks – became a bit of a novelty with some of the locals.
Soon we were struggling to make our way in Kenosha. It was hard at first – Kenosha’s economy was worse than Lincoln’s. Carl could only take a couple of weeks before he resigned from the project and moved back to Lincoln. This was upsetting at the time, as we were looking to do a Florida tour playing support for EHC, which would have been really good for the band. Carl remains in Lincoln to this day, working on his solo project “Mesmeronicus”. He has also developed a number of intriguing conspiracy theories regarding MA, and “what really happened” in Australia. An intriguing scenario involving a Masonic circle of bankers in Iowa, mind control, and suppressed memories that will surely awaken for me when the time is right. (I’m actually looking forward to it).
Kenosha is a very strange town, the guitarist from the Exploited lived there along with the Drummer from the UK Subs, and they had a new band called Billyclub that I believe now resides in Austin. Also, Giddle Partridge was living there playing Keyboards with EHC, and it was she whom introduced us to the Partridge Family Temple. Kenoshanites boast their town has the most bars per capita in the U.S. I’ve heard so many other towns make this same claim that I don’t know if it’s true, but Kenosha sure has a helluva-lotta bars, and I think we managed to hit most of them. Thomas let us set up rehearsal space in his basement, where we set to work jamming and fleshing out new material. We also spent some time hobnobbing in Milwaukee and Chicago, where we met Peter Steele (Type O), Lush, the Unsane, Scary Lady Sarah, Carrie Monster, and many other colorful characters. Azriel decided to move on around this time, and headed to Houston to work for Hollow Point Management (yes, that’s right…Houston again. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…). I never saw or heard from Azriel again, which at times gives me sadness. I’ve since heard she moved back to Oz.
Morphine Angel and the Electric Hellfire Club, Kenosha WI, circa Fall of 1996
L to R: Marshal, Carl Gibson, Thomas Thorn, Johnny Lee, Rich Frost, Paul Fredric
The days rolled by lazily in Kenosha for a time. EHC left to go on tour with Gwar, then Danzig, and still we were looking for a new guitarist. We tried a couple of guys from Chicago, but they all just wanted to push the ethereal/ambient sound. I started really working with sequencers at this time, and even pushed for MA going all electro, but it didn’t ‘take’ with the guys. Things were on the verge of getting boring when out of the blue John Michaels called from Atlanta and said Delinquent wanted to release LoveNest. We were back in business. We paid off the recording and got a new CD released in one fell swoop.
The whole LoveNest concept was something that actually came into being much earlier. Back in the Wolf days, we were sitting around in Lincoln, watching some slasher film or another. At first it looked like some teenagers making out, and Wolf said, “It’s a Love nest!” But then the scene cut dramatically to a psycho with a knife, and I said, “It’s a murderfest!” We all paused at how catchy that was, and somehow meaningful. As Americans I suppose we all suffer from a pathology that connects sex with violence, evidenced (or maybe caused) by the media, and epitomized in the slasher film genre. There’s always some teenager trying to get it on - which makes them somehow ‘guilty’ in terms of the narrative structure - and in comes Freddy, Jason, Michael or whoever, to dispense justice. The concept also seemed reflective of the MA experience over the last few years – so much conflict and loss combined with so much joy and acquisition.
With a new album in the works and a tour on the horizon, we really needed a new guitarist. We inducted Charley Hickey from Ohio, whom we had met on previous tours. He relocated to Kenosha and began rehearsing in the kitchen of Brad and mine’s Apartment – a mere 5 blocks from the beaches of beautiful Lake Michigan. Charley came from more of a metal background, and was into Fear Factory and such. It took the MA sound in a slightly more Type-O direction. Heavy grooves and grinds with melodic and wispy male vocals.
So LoveNest came out, and we went on tour again. This was to be the biggest, most elaborate, and last tour that Morphine Angel would go on as of this writing. We toured with an industrial/rock band from New York called Needulhed, who were great guys and we had all kinds of fun and ‘Pulp Fiction’ moments, from Mafioso club owners in Long Island, to Necronomicon-styled occultists from the trailer parks of Arkansas. We were out for 6 weeks, traveling from the great lakes to the East Coast, down south, and over to New Orleans. Wolf and Sid had since relocated to the Big Easy, and this time through, Johnny and Wolf reconciled, and we stayed in touch with him thereafter. Then Wichita, and the tour inevitably capped off at Knickerbockers in Lincoln. This would have been MA’s last appearance in Lincoln, and my own last performance there. We half-expected no one to come out for it, but were so pleasantly pleased to see so many old friends and familiar faces appear there. I had to do some explaining about what happened to Azriel. The tour was financially successful as well, and when we arrived back in Kenosha, we actually had enough money from the tour to pay our rent.
Johnny and Paul rocking out on the LoveNest tour
Wichita, KS; 1997
After this we spent a few months gigging around Wisconsin and Illinois, and added a percussionist – Rick, or (P)rick as we came to affectionately refer to him. It was an electronic stand-up kit, one of EHC’s hand-me-downs, and the same kit that Rich Frost had used during his days with EHC.
By this time we had established a strong fan-base in Milwaukee. Eventually, I got a call from a Ms. Dana Dark with Hollow Point Management in Houston. Apparently when Azriel had jetted to Houston, she had taken some copies of Project ISA and various other MA promotional materials with her. She had actually returned to Australia some months earlier, but these CDs were still floating around the Hollow Point office, and her replacement – Dana Dark had stumbled upon them. Hollow Point booked us a little Texas tour and during this time Sean Barush (Head Honcho for Hollow Point) and Dana offered to help relocate MA to Houston.
I already had some friends in Houston and Johnny and I were both sick of living in arctic conditions, so we were an easy sell. The other guys took some convincing, but came around before too long. Before long we were soaking up the sun in Houston. Everything was groovy for all of two weeks before drama struck, and our relations with Hollow Point went south. No one was too excited about the notion of going back to Kenosha or Lincoln, but our presence in Houston seemed momentarily anticlimactic. Bamboo Crisis (whom Sid Cook had known many years prior) helped us settle in a bit, got us a rehearsal studio, and booked us a gig with them at the Annual Vampire Ball, which we later learned was a grand Houston tradition.
We were trying to keep ourselves occupied with this when I got a call from Delinquent. It seemed LoveNest had done well enough to attract the attention of a Chicago “Fat-Cat” Manager by the name of Bill McCormick, and Delinquent wanted to do another MA record. Bill McCormick was the closest thing to a ‘real’ manager MA ever had. Real in the sense that he actually worked out of an office; in fact the offices of JB Roth and Associates, an entertainment law firm who handled big acts like James Brown and Judy Tenuta.
Things started moving really fast again. We had four or five new songs we’d been working on leisurely over the last year, but we needed more. I programmed something like five more songs in three days, and soon we were tweaking them in rehearsal. As these songs developed, I realized that MA had finally ‘come into being’. These songs comprised the most ‘essentially MA’ stuff to date. They had darkness and a groove that effectively transmitted the last four years of struggle, passion, and sorrow that we had been through as a group, yet maintained a melancholically reflective feel. And they were deep too. Johnny’s lyrics worked with the feeling of the music with sensitivity and a passion that I’d never heard before. I haven’t heard many of these songs in years, but I still occasionally get one of them stuck looping in my mind, and a teary eye is often quick to follow.
The new album was to be called ‘Age of Man’, which was Johnny’s suggestion. Cosmically speaking, the idea was that we had done the ‘ice’ thing with Project ISA, and the ‘fire’ thing with LoveNest, now let’s talk about Man. To me this meant an exploration of what it means to be human, and referred to the same emotions as conveyed by the ‘weeping’ images of Jesus or Buddha, who weep for humanity in all it’s ignorance and savagery. Brad made a killer design for it – a stylized face of the Hindu god Shiva – which was absolutely brilliant.
At the same time, Delinquent was releasing a double disc compilation called the Pink and the Black. It was supposed to be a tribute to the connection between goth (black) and glam (pink). It featured MA, and a lot of other bands like Attrition, Bella Morte, Gossamer, and Sunshine Blind. The pink disc featured Dee Snider, and bunch of other glam bands that I was never familiar with, glam not really being my bag. A picture of Scary Lady Sarah (Chicago DJ/Promoter) graced its cover.
We headed back to Alabama and recorded Age of Man in two weeks; with a three-day break in the middle to play a Pink & Black release party at The Bank in Manhattan. After recording, we all went octarate ways: Brad and I back to Houston, Johnny back to Nebraska and then Chicago, and Charley back to Ohio. We busied ourselves through post production by playing a couple of more shows like this – bussing or flying to meet for a weekend in either Chicago or Houston. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement. Randy Blair who had played with Ohio-based Goth band ‘Que-up’ joined us on drums around this time. This was the final MA line-up involving Marshal and I.
After the Vampire Ball show, Houston TX; October 1998
L to R: Randy Blair, Paul Fredric, Charley Hickey, Brad Marshal, Johnny Lee
The last Morphine Angel show with Brad and I in the band was another Pink & Black Release party, this time at the Dome Room in Chicago. Scary Lady Sarah hosted it, and the turnout was huge. We shared the stage that night with an ‘up and coming’ Bella Morte.
I probably don’t need to explain that a long distance relationship like this is a big strain on a band. Eventually the black day came when I got a call from Delinquent that they had decided not to release Age of Man, due to various dramas they’d been dealing with from other members. I did my best to run damage control, as I saw the release of this album to be of critical import. However, the scalpel had cut to deep, and I realized at this point how vastly I had been ‘out of the loop’ in regards to MA’s business decisions.
This, I believe, is the closest thing I have to a “regret” concerning MA, that Age of Man (as I knew it) was never released. The world missed an opportunity to hear what MA was really supposed to sound like, and perhaps now never will.
First we all decided to part ways creatively, then Brad and I were invited back to reform and continue in Chicago. We both had become fairly ‘settled’ in Houston by this point, and had already started working on the infant material that would later transform into Asmodeus X, so we both decided to pass on the offer. Wolf rejoined MA at this time, filling my roll as bass player, and some goth kid from Houston took over Brad’s place on the keys. I don’t know if that would all be considered “irony” or “poetic justice”, but it sure made for an uncomfortable moment when Johnny and Wolf appeared at my door in Houston to collect all the MA gear. Strangely, the one piece of gear they missed was “Alice” the Alesis drum machine that had fueled MA’s aggression for so many years. It still sits enshrined in my study, waiting perhaps for some mythical Ragnarok-styled melting of the ice to be reborn and start kicking out the jams again.
To cap it all off, the August 1998 issue of Spin finally decided it was time to give MA it’s five minutes of fame. A review of the Pink & Black stated that MA “flex too much Neanderthal muscle to make sense in such twinkle-toed company”. For months I pondered whether this should be taken as a compliment or a dig. I guess it’s just amazing that M.A. was even mentioned in Spin.
Johnny did continue with MA in Chicago, and after several line-up changes including the retirement of Wolf (whom ironically himself disappeared into the mists of Wisconsin), is still doing it as far as I know. I don’t have a problem with it now, nor did I at the time, and in fact I wish him only the best. The creative differences between Johnny and I had been growing for some time, and were bound to manifest, sooner or later. He took Morphine Angel, and I took Black Pepper Records, which I later used as a springboard to release “Wolf Age” (yes, I know, I still had some ‘age’ issues I needed to work through) for Asmodeus X. Not long after, the Houston Press did a feature on Asmo and our transition from MA, speaking with Brad and I as well as Johnny, and I think it conveys the mood of the time quite nicely: http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/1999-12-23/music.html
A couple of years ago, Bill McCormick sent me a DVD demo of a new MA song. They sounded more agro/Marylin Mansonish, and the guys he has in the band now are really mean looking. Meaner than a Tasmanian Devil on a coke-jones. The DVD had a bonus video – MA’s first live performance ever at Duffy’s Tavern in Lincoln. It’s kind of grainy, but you can still make out the ghostly images of Mike Farrar and myself on either side of Johnny, pounding out ‘Cathedral Terror’ with all the angst that three frustrated young Lincolnites with a drum machine could muster. You can also see the cool light show that Mike talked about in his recollection. Crack Records was the company that released this DVD, and interested parties are advised to seek them out for a copy.
End Transmission….
You Have Been Judged Again.
Paul Fedric
August 2004
Year of the Monkey
THE MOTHERWELLS
Years Playing: 2005 - present
Members:
Noah Mosier - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Ken Morton - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Jeff Iwanski - Mandolin, Banjo, Harmonica, Vocals
Jeff Perry - Drums
Russ Eikerman - Bass
Releases:
Members came from: Honey Stump, Skyfive, Lune, Wide, The Sissies,
Members went to:
MR. 1986
Years Playing: 2001 - present
Members:
Jim Schroeder - Guitar
Micah Schmiedskamp - Bass
Joe Heider - Drums
Andy Kopecke- Guitar
Ryan Phillips - Keyboards
Releases:
The Everbimes - 2003 - Redemption
Collective Efforts Split CD w/Tie These Hands - 2003 - Redemption
Members came from:
Members went to: Gloves
MR. GREEN'S TIME MACHINE
Years Playing: 200? - 200?
Members:
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to: 2.9 Seconds
MR. MIYAGI
Years Playing: 2002 - 2003
Members:
Drew Weldon - Drums
Greg Butcher - Guitar
Phil Ackerman - Bass
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to: The Hooligans
MUD JACK
Years Playing: 0000-0000
Members:
Jeff Perry - Drums
Brian Tyson - Bass
Joe Way - Guitar
Bill Marhenkee - Guitar
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
MUSIC
Years Playing: 1969-1972
Members:
Al McCracken - Trombone
Bruce McCracken - Guitar
Bill Banks - Trumpet
Gale Cooper - Drums
Steve Pejsar - Bass
Releases:
Members came from: Nobody's Children, The Burdegardes
Members went to:Tunafish Jones
MUSICO
Years Playing: 200?-200?
Members:
Darren Keen - Guitar, Vocals
???? - Drums
???? - Bass
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
MUSTACHE
Years Playing: 2000 - Present
Members:
Bill Bored (Jones) - Bass
Sean Murrell - Guitar
J.J. King - Drums
Brian Pestcontrol (Poskochil) - ????
Releases:
Members came from: D.K.'ed Willies, Pogrom
Members went to:
MYLOW
Years Playing: 1999 - 2003
Members:
Korey Lloyd - Guitar, Lead Vocals
Keenan Stump - Bass, Vocals
Rees Lahman - Drums (Previously Chris Gordon)
Releases:
How The West Was Won E.P. - 2000
On This Side - 2001
Members came from:
Members went to: Shaking Tree
MY THREE SONS
Years Playing: 1983 - 1984
Members:
James Graham - Drums
Danny Shoemaker - Guitar, Vocals
Bill Graham - Bass, Vocals
Releases:
Members came from: The Art Students
Members went to: Brain Hammer, One Dark Rabbit
From Bill Graham: We mostly opened for Charlie Burton since Danny's brother Phil played guitar. A lot of gigs at the Drumstick. We opened for Movie Eyes/Cocky Monroe as well. I used to hang out with those guys.
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THE NAKED RAISINS
Years Playing 0000 - 0000
Members:
Amos Joseph - Bass
Deejay Sharton - guitar
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
NATURAL GAS
Years Playing 1969 - 19??
Members:
Don Sutton - Guitar, Harp
Gary Howe- Keyboards
Al Lerdahl - Bass
???? - Drums
Releases:
Members came from: Big Red and the Psychotics, Antelope Pavilion
Members went to: Bluegrass Crusade
NEAR SOUTH DAVENPORT
Years Playing 200? - Present
Members:
Dan Hutt - Guitar, Lead Vocals
Noah Beadell - Bass, Vocals
Dan Kettlehake - Drums, Vocals
Releases:
Members came from: The Davenports
Members went to: The Static Octopus
NEVER
Years Playing 2005 - Present
Members:
Tim Hinrichs - Bass
Syn Smith - Vocals
Nick Patterson - Drums
Chad Pikschus - Guitar
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
NEW BRASS GUNS
Years Playing 1986 - 1988
Members:
Lori Allison - Vocals
Marty Amsler- Bass
Doug Hubner Jr. - Guitar, Vocals
Brian Barber - Drums
Releases:
The New Brass Guns - 1988
White Dress - 1989 - Tall Records
Members came from:Go-Batz
Members went to: The Millions, The Lemmings
NEW HIGH FLYERS
Years Playing 1982-1984
Members:
Pete Blakeslee - Steel Guitar
Jim Pipfer - Bass
Steve Hanson - guitar
Reynolds Peterson - drums
Dave Fowler - fiddle
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
THE NEW INVINCIBLES
Years Playing 2003-Present
Members:
Mikey - Guitar
Ian - Bass
Joe - Guitar
Emmy - drums
Releases:
Members came from:8th Wave, Same Old Crap, The Moronic Five, Team Renford
Members went to:
NEW MOVEMENT
Years Playing 1984
Members:
Dan Shoemaker - Guitar
Will Saws - Drums
Tom Ficke - Vocals
???? - Bass
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to: Bone Gravy
NO BETTER CAUSE
Years Playing 2002 - Present
Members:
Nate Kellison - Vocals
Luke Kellison - Vocals
Adam McCarville - Vocals
Zack Bjornsen - Vocals
Michael Evans - Vocals
Releases:
First Time Around - 2002
You Asked For It - 2003
RElease - 2004
Immeasurable - 2004
Members came from: The Electric Soul Method
Members went to:
THE NOBLEMEN
Years Playing 1964-1965
Members:
Al McCracken - Guitar
Norm Hill - Guitar
Gary Karnes - Bass
Leo Perry - Drums
Jim Cox - Keyboards
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to:
NOBODY'S CHILDREN
Years Playing 1967-1968
Members:
Bruce McCracken - Guitar
Doug McGee - Guitar
Mark Epp - Organ
Gale Cooper - Drums
Bill Banks - Trumpet
George Beilby - Saxophone
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to: Merged with The Burdgegards to form Music
NO LEFT STONE
Years Playing 1992 - 1995
Members:
Craig Korth - Vocals
Doug Agne - Guitar
Chris Sommerich - Bass
Mike Daeges - drums
Releases:
Exaltation Station - 1993
Weaver Festival Phenomenon - 1994
Members came from:
Members went to: Oil
THE NOMADS
Years Playing 1962-1965
Members:
Quinn Kulhanek - Guitar
Mike Semrad - Guitar
Ed Heine - Bass
Stan Johnson - Saxophone
Larry Fiehn - Piano
Jay Davis - Drums (later Mike Klinger)
Releases:
Members came from:
Members went to: J. Harrison B
NORM4EVA
Years Playing 2003 - 2005
Members:
Heather Rupp - Vocals, Guitar
Luke Sticka - guitar
Jeremiah Moore - Percussion
Nick Semrad - Keyboards
Aaron Wright - Bass
Releases:
Moth - 2005
Members came from:Electric Soul Method,
Members went to: in June 2005 the band changed it's name to Tsumi
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It is our wish to make this encyclopedia as complete as possible with the ultimate goal of including information on EVERY original band that has ever existed in Lincoln. If you have addtional info about any of the bands here, or wish to include a band that isn't here, please send your info along to be included.
