Brain Forest - S/T (Cassette Only, '91)

Christian Nelson - Guitar/Lead Vocals

Joshua Foster - Guitar/Back-Up Vocals

John Paul - Bass/Back-Up Vocals

Paul Saffell - Drums

Don't know a ton about this band but I'm happy to write that this is the first tape someone has actually submitted to me that I didn't have so thanks Joshua! Hopefully he'll chime in with a little band history. I admire Brain Forest for being the first band I've seen to actively encourage people to pirate their tape (see the cover) because as anyone who has ever self-released a cassette knows, you aren't going to make any money and the most you can hope for is some exposure! Thanks again Josh!

Brain Forest (1991)

1. Nero Plays Ground Zero

2. Heavy Houses

3. Kingdom Idiot/Prohibited Noise

4. Dark Future

5. Pillars & Killers

6. Fester Underfoot

DOWNLOAD HERE

Pollen Count - (Cassette Only Compilation, '92, Amacha Productions)

At long last, here is the Pollen Count compilation I've been promising to post for months. Thank you all for your patience! This was released in '92 by Mike Amacha (aka Mike Healy). At the time, I remember being surprised that I hadn't heard of half the bands on this thing. Since I've started the blog and the facebook page I now know that as large as my collection is, I barely scratched the surface of all the music going on in Eugene. Was/is there a single resident of the town between the ages of 20 and 60 that wasn't in a band at some point? Hopefully Mike can chime in with details regarding some of the bands. I do know that Pine Box eventually led to Kpants and that Otterpop was bunny summer on a day when we thought about changing our name. I remember the Big I Am releasing a tape which I now really wish I'd picked up, forgot how much I liked their track on this thing. Please email me if you've got it!

Pollen Count ('92, Amacha Productions)

1. Medicine Wheel - Hold the Grudge

2. Adickdid - All-American Girl

3. Otto - R.P.

4. Jollymon - Tolusa

5. Dead Legion - Chosen Sin

6. Holy Rodent - Guns-Guitars-n-VCR's

7. Oswald Five-O - Preyed Upon

8. Treatment - Jesus 4 Sale

9. Beradino - When I Was Hot

10. Runtmeyer - Apple Juice

11. Saw God - Is This

12. Poiligator - Death Rattle

13. The Undertakers - I Tried

14. Otterpop (aka bunny summer) - Crush

15. Big I Am - Colt 45

16. Aunt Flow - Creature

17. Pine Box - Not Kind

DOWNLOAD HERE

Punishment Farm - Live on the Paul Burnett Show ('83)

Billy Taylor - Vocals

Trey Gunn - Guitar

Mike Medler - Bass

Chuck Clearwater (RIP) - Drums

Punishment Farm were a little before my time so unfortunately I never got to seem them live. What is fortunate is that Mike's parents recorded their performance on The Paul Burnett Show in 1983 which aired on cable access in Eugene. The audio here is pulled from a DVD-R of that 29 year old VHS. Simply put, this band was amazing. They released a cassette which Trey Gunn has told me he's going to remaster, hopefully when he does he'll allow me to share it here. Trey gave me permission to post these tracks and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him publicly. Please check out more of Trey's music here. Please enjoy what must be Eugene's most technically proficient post-punk effort. Damn this makes me want to hear their official demo!

Punishment Farm - Live on the Paul Burnett Show ('83)

1. Black Kids

2. When Will She Come Again?

3. The Great Iron Masque

4. My Eye

5. We Are Campaigning

6. I'm Not Special

7. Lady Loneliness

8. What's a Wife For Anyway?

DOWNLOAD HERE

Slotcar - Slotcar demo (Jealous Butcher, Cassette Only, '95)

Ben Barnett - Bass/Lead Vocals

Scott Van Deusen - Guitar/Vocals

Ryan Barber - Guitar/Vocals

Jon St. Clair - Drums

I saw Slotcar once or twice, don't know a lot about them other than the fact that Ben Barnett would eventually become Kind of Like Spitting who have recorded several albums worth of material. I think Kind of Like Spitting re-recorded most of the songs from this demo. This is the only Slotcar release and it came out as a split with Soda Jerk, a great collection from the good folks at Jealous Butcher Records. Please post additional information you have about this band in the comments, thanks!

Slotcar - S/T cassette ('95)

1. Waterworks

2. Backpack Full

3. Porch Song

4. Blame

5. Bridges Worth Burning

6. Anywhere But Here

DOWNLOAD HERE

Prairie School - Unreleased 4-Track demos (1989)

Chris Sherry - Drums

Tony Barry- Bass

Scott Glass - Guitar/Vocals

I should know more about this band having seen them play a few times back in college. My roommate actually recorded them on 4-Track but the tape has long since vanished. Fortunately, John Kluff (Now William) did a better job of recording them on 4-track and I managed to hang onto my copy of that tape so here it is. Don't know any of the song titles except Spread the Love which was on my cassette only comp 13th Street Revisited. The picture above is the cover of the only Prairie School 7" which I unfortunately do not have. Anyone have it? Please message me if so!

Prairie School - Unreleased 4-track demos (1989)

1. Track 1

2. Track 2

3. Track 3

4. Track 4

5. Spread the Love

6. Track 6

7. Track 7

8. Track 8

9. Track 9

10. Track 10

11. Track 11

DOWNLOAD HERE

Single Mary - S/T 7" e.p. (1987)

Jon Wallace - Guitar

Kathy Ozanich - Bass

Mike Stewart - Drums

Laura Rathbun - Keyboard

Enrique Rios - Saxophone

I don't know a hell of a lot about Single Mary. They were together from '83 - '89 or so and released this e.p. in 1987. As far as I know, this is their only release. Please post more info. in the comments if you have it! 

Single Mary e.p. (1987)

1. Uptight World

2. Something Called Love

3. So Suppressed

4. Easy Way Out

DOWNLOAD HERE

Here is a video too!  

http://youtu.be/salQQgINcdshttp://youtu.be/salQQgINcds

Now William - Unreleased Demos ('90-'91?)

Charlie McClain - Bass/Vocals

John Kluff - Guitar on #1-#9

David Krueger - Violin/Vocals

Max ??? - Guitar on #10-#19

Adam Glogauer - Drums #3-#19

Now William was around from '89 to '92 or so, my memory is a little fuzzy. Can't remember anyone else ever sounding like these guys and the first time I met Charlie and David I think they were wearing overalls which helped sell it even more. Below is a collection of unreleased 4-track and live demos, I believe it's everything they recorded prior to their cd. If anyone knows a detailed history of the band, please write it in the comments below. Enjoy!

Now William - Demos (Unreleased)

1. Soaring (1st Demo)

2. Blue (1st Demo)

3. Home (4-track recording)

4. Hold On (4-track recording)

5. Flying By (4-track recording)

6. Blue (4-track recording)

7. Soaring (4-track recording)

8. Auction Song (4-track recording)

9. Brian's Song (4-track recording)

10. Unknown Title (WOW Hall board demo)

11. Mother (WOW Hall board demo)

12. Irish Song (WOW Hall board demo)

13. Untitled (WOW Hall board demo)

14. Gypsy Song (WOW Hall board demo)

15. Can't Say That (WOW Hall board demo)

16. Flying By (WOW Hall board demo)

17. Auction Song (WOW Hall board demo)

18. Metal Song (WOW Hall board demo)

19. E (WOW Hall board demo)

DOWNLOAD HERE

Undertakers, The - Time Machine 7" + bonus tracks ('92 Tombstone Records)

Kevin Shapen - Guitar

Jason Hill - Vocals

Pat Yonally - Organ

Brett Morse - Bass

Todd Kinner - Drums

The Undertakers were around for a year or two in the early 90's. I saw them a few times, always a fun show even if I was nearly deaf for 2 days after standing too close while watching them at Max's once. I remember thinking they must have super glued Pat's fingers to his keyboard as almost every other part of his body was in motion while the band played. The Undertakers recorded way more than they ever released some of which is included here. They recorded a still unreleased full-length that may eventually appear on this blog once Brett gets me the DAT and I find a way to bump it to CD-R. Enjoy!

The Undertakers - Time Machine 7" + bonus tracks ('92 Tombstone)

1. Time Machine (Mono from 7")

2. Lookout (Mono from 7")

3. I Tried (bonus track)

4. Lookout (bonus track)

5. Shelia (bonus track)

6. Time Machine (bonus track)

7. Surf Stomp (bonus track)

8. One Step Closer (bonus track)

9. Re-Explore Your Mind (bonus track)

10. Mine All Mine (bonus track)

DOWNLOAD HERE

Uncle Charlie (1988-1990)

John O'Neil - Guitar/Vocals

Steve Nordby - Bass

Adam Glogauer - Drums

The first Uncle Charlie cassette, released in 1988 by Dunghill. This is a Eugene classic with a whole bunch of should-have-been-hits. After Johnson Unit split up, John and Steve took some time then recruited youngster Adam to play drums in their new band. This was a really fun time in Eugene with Snakepit, Uncle Charlie, Rawhead Rex and Some Velvet Sidewalk all playing basement shows every month or two if you were paying attention. Enjoy!

Uncle Charlie - Your Friend ('88, Dunghill)

1. Stuck

2. Addiction

3. Just Like a Man

4. Postcard

5. Sense

6. Gently

7. Everything

8. Curtains

9. Kenneth

10. Closed Circuit

11. Direct Action

12. Decency

13. Secondary Importance (bonus track from "Positively 13th" cassette comp.)

DOWNLOAD HERE


John O'Neil - Guitar/Vocals

Steve Nordby - Bass

Adam Glogauer - Drums

Mike Stinett - Sax

The second and final cassette by Uncle Charlie was released by Dunghill in '89 shortly after the band had split up. Mike had joined the band on sax by the time these recordings were made. I think by this point John was pretty sick of Eugene and he moved to Boise not too long after this came out. Having moved out of Eugene myself some 16 years ago I get it but I still missed the yearly release by some band fronted by John. The last band I knew about that he was in was El Dopamine, not sure if they're still playing or not. John?

Steve NordbyMarch 31, 2012 at 4:39 PM

"Not Any More" was a rush job because John was getting married and heading to Boise. We had a huge backlog of material. The previous Uncle Charlie release, "Your Friend," was recorded over about six months, but this was done in a couple of weeks. It's a fine set of songs.

I told John he needed to redo the "Poison Mountain" vocals right after he finished, but Mike told me I was wrong. He was right.

When I started mixing, I noticed problems in my engineering (distortion in the cymbals is the biggest thing that bugs me) and would have re-recorded if John was still in town.

I outsourced tape duplication and they did a terrible job. It bugged me to have to explain the reason for reference tones. The second time, the levels were OK but their machines were off-speed, so original cassettes play about 1/2 step sharp on a machine running at the correct speed.

My fav track is Skydiver. There is a video of this edited from stolen clips in the middle of the night at a local TV station...

"March Ninth" was a musical exploration that I was unsure of when coming up with the bass part. While mixing, John mailed me (pre email) to make the mix as expansive as possible.

"Stupid Town" is about Sutherlin, Oregon. A fav JPO song.

"Nostalgia" is an outtake from the "Your Friend" sessions (note how the drums sound so much better). We just were goofing around and liked it.

"Wedding Train" - the fantastic Snakepit song redone by us. I did the guitar solo. Damn I couldn't get it right. Sorry Al.

"Capital Gains" - I loved playing this.

"Facing Up" - A Johnson Unit song with too much behind it to explain here. An acoustic version to make sure we got it out.

Uncle Charlie - Not Anymore ('89, Dunghill)

1. Skydiver

2. Strong White Male

3. Poison Mountain

4. People Believe

5. Meat Prices

6. March Ninth

7. Stupid Town

8. Hired Hand

9. Rearranged

10. Martyr Returns

11. Nostalgia

12. Secret Society

13. Wedding Train

14. Capital Gains

15. Facing Up

DOWNLOAD HERE