Greg Babich (RIP) - Guitar
Rich Babich (RIP) - Vocals
Vince Rivera - Bass
Aaron Temple - Drums
Doug Wilkerson - Drums
Special thanks to Paula Wang for submitting the photos via our Facebook page as well as the tracks themselves, the only shots to have materialized of Mind Garage in the seven years I've been doing this. Mind Garage played rarely and released music even less often than that. At least half of these tracks were released as a Delta Ponds cassette. I had the artwork but that was three hard drive crashes ago so we're lucky to still have this, the unreleased Mind Garage studio album!
Mind Garage "In the Garden" Unreleased Album, 1987?
1.. In the Garden
2. Runnin' Scared
3. From This World
4. False Start
5. I'm Afraid of Girls
6. Spiral Notebook
7. Be My Friend
8. Loser
9. Show 'n Tell
10. Ghost Town
11. Got It Made
12. Eternity
13. Dangerous
DOWNLAD HERE
Amazing find. I knew both babich brothers and am friends with doug w for life. I played with doug for three decades in various bands in Eugene and Seattle asks love him like blood.
ReplyDeleteRIP GREG AND RICHARD. your lives were too short and painful. You were too pure and fragile for this world. I'm so glad the music is preserved. Good job Panic on 13th. Cheers
This cassette is really a tale of three separate projects, all centered around the flying Babich brothers.
ReplyDeleteSide 1 Delta Ponds (circa 1988-91)
The Babich’s last attempt at pulling off a cohesive band, but sadly sabotaged by mental illness and addiction (amongst other things). Delta Ponds were: Greg, Richard, Mike Akers and Taz (?last name?), a shy kid from Ashland who was forced back into the studio to re-hit every snare hit on the recording because of poor mic placement and too much white wine and weed. The recording was pretty crap for the nice studio they used, but the songs/lyrics are pretty Fab.
Side 2 (1st 3 songs) Mind Garage (circa 1986?)
In its most produced glory. This project came at least 3 or so years before Delta Ponds. In the studio for this was Greg, Richard, 95% likely Adam Temple on drums / 5% likely Doug Wilkerson on drums (I’ve heard/seen both suggested, perhaps Doug played on one of the tracks?), and Vince Rivera on Bass. It couldn’t have been Mike Akers since he hadn’t moved to Eugene yet.
And completely out of sequence is the last song “Flame” on Side 1, which is an acapella track Richard made in the studio when recording Ghost Town.
Side 2 (last 3 songs) Greg/Richard (circa 1984-86?)
Trying to overcome the pitiful limitations of a 4-Track and a drum machine in the bedroom, the framework for Mind Garage. When they played live I believe they used Adam and Vince, although I know Doug Wilkerson took over drums at some point.
Hey, this is Ivan, i.e., "Taz." It's incredible that you remember the history of the songs I recorded on, and I am happy to find a copy of them, too! They still sound pretty good, if I do say so myself, all because of Greg and Rich's brilliant song writing skills.
DeleteI am saddened to also hear that both Babich brothers have passed away, too. They were great musicians and friends, but at least their music, their fantastic singing and playing, lives on.
I believe the first six songs, from "In the Garden" to "Spiral Notebook" are my tunes, which I recognize from that damn back beat I had to rerecord. Man, what a hassle that was to do. I was also annoyed that my drums were pretty much buried in the background as a result, too.
Such is life. It's been a weird one.
I agree Ivan, it's too bad the drums got mixed to the back, and even the Bass is buried in those tracks for whatever reason. We had such a crappy experience with that studio, I was shocked when I found out that Greg decided to record there despite the warnings. I doubt you remember me, but I do remember meeting you a few times, I think you were like 18 at the time. I remember the rad hair!
DeleteI have a picture that is purportedly of Mind Garage - I will send it along!
ReplyDeleteCurious if you ever found that photo
DeleteYes, I found it and sent it to this blog, but it looks like it's being kept up any more. I just posted it to a ten-thousand-year-old Flickr account:
Deletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/portlandpyx/49659738856/
The story is: I bought a used record (I think REM's "Reckoning") at House of Records in the early 90s, and this photo was inside. I took it back to the shop to ask about it and somebody (Greg? Robert? That guy that was in the Flatlanders?) laughed and said it was a local band called Mind Garage. You be the judge! I hope you see this someday...
Would love to see the picture! It's funny, there are so few photos from those days b/c no cell phone cameras...
ReplyDeleteExcellent album! The singer is distinctive. Thanks so much for doing this blog. I didn't grow up in Eugene, but have lived here a few years now. I'm loving hearing these bits of local history.
ReplyDeleteHi to the person who runs this account
ReplyDeleteI found this band through a YouTube channel by the name of thumbsuckinggargoyle
I fell in love with the song ghost town and I wanted find out more about this band
I looked on Google and saw this blog and I really want to know more information about these people
If you can give me the story of these brothers I would generally appreciate it
Because I think that these dudes were special
So please let me know okay
Thank you