BLIND OBEDIENCE 7"

Notes from BLIND ROACHES…CD note that “Overkill” was their first single. It was a poem written by Stephan at 15 to a song Steve Wishnia wrote for his first band. My favorite track on this here is “Royal Slime” which I love the drums by Matt Superity.

Stephan Ielpi – vocals, Steve Wishnia – bass, Peter Campbell – guitar, Matt Superity – drums.

GOOD CLEAN FUN 7"

The second 7" released.

Stephan Ielpi – vocals, Steve Wishnia – bass, Peter Campbell – guitar, Matt Superity – drums.

FALSE PROPHETS

This is a pretty fast paced album. No one is safe from Stephan’s lyrics as he covers everyone from religion to politics to taxidermist. I love the closing line in Taxidermist that Stephan sings

…all you animal lovers you may think I’m gross no one can play God! But I come pretty close.

An earlier version of “Functional” song was the b-side to ’82 EP ” Good Clean Fun” titled “The Functional Song”. I haven’t heard that version so can’t compare them but from the liner notes in “BLIND ROACHES…” it states it’s a song about being bored w/ sex. Stephan’s girlfriend would start off waltzing on stage during the intro then end up dry-humping furiously to the finale.

“Faith” has a good message. This is Stephan’s “Imagine” track. It’s a pretty simple message.

“..we control the fate we invent the hate we invite the love no rules come from above I have faith in me I have faith in you enough of this talk we know what to do”

Stephan Ielpi – vocals, Steve Wishnia – bass, Peter Campbell– guitar, Ned Brewster – drums.

IMPLOSION

“IMPLOSION” my favorite False Prophets album. This is the only album that hasn’t been reissued on CD. They also added Debra Adele and George Tabb to the band. Plus some extra Sax and Trumpets. This album also came w/ the lyrics that resemble an underground zine issue. All handwritten lyrics, credits w/ primitive illustrations fill the booklet.
I scanned a page in bitmap so it looks like white paper but it’s really have quite yellowed.

Under the Reagan years False Prophets had a lot of fodder to write about as well as life in NYC.
Opening track welcomes the listener to “Fabulous Day”

“It’s a fabulous day in my neighborhood
Boo-teeks movin’ in just like they should
Getting’ rid of the junkies and the bums
Cause we’re movin’ in a higher class…OF SCUM!”

“Destructive Engagement” is a strong song on racial struggles.

“…How much injustice can you ignore
Do you need Michael Stewart to graffiti it on your door
How much injustice can you ignore
Do you need Michael Griffith to lie beneath your car!…”

Michael Stewart was a NYC African American graffiti artist who was arrested and died in police custody.
Michael Griffith was from Trinadad who lived in Brooklyn was leaving a pizzeria w/ 3 other black men when confronted by a group of white men yelling racial slurs. Being seriously beaten while trying to evade them Michael Griffith was hit & killed by a car.

“Implosion” and “The Eggshell Walk” are my favorite tracks just total angst.
“Implosion” has a great opening line...


“I thought I heard my watch…but I don’t own one
Manipulating rhythm ~ cacophony of confusion
I ride not a so merry-go-round between reality and illusion… 

“The Eggshell Walk” asks us the question…

“…are we a part of a vanishing breed
must we become one of the disciples of greed
we speak out love…only to be hated
must we live in fear…that they created…”

This is the only album that was never reissued on CD.

Stephan Ielpi – vocals, Steve Wishnia – bass, backing vocals, Debra Adele - Guitar, Piano, backing vocals, George Tabb - Guitar, backing vocals, Ned Brewster – drums, percussions.

Additional musicians: Alto sax - James white, Trumpet - Brian Lynch, Baritone Sax - Jorge Incognito, Acoustic guitar - Alan Schwartz, Piano - Ed Pastorini, Percussion - Giorgio Gomelsky, Backing vocals - Jae Monroe and Gordon Gano.

INVISIBLE PEOPLE

The back of the album has a different photo than the one on the CD. The inside has 6 cool pen & ink or scratchboard by artist Eric Drooker who also did the cover.

I purchased this album in Harvard Square at Mystery Train in Cambridge, MA. Mystery Train was one of many hole-in-the-wall vinyl shops in Boston that carried used and rare records. When I purchased it I noticed a letter written on Record label Konkurrel letterhead. The letter was signed by Debra which I assume is Debra DeSalvo since she mention about touring.
I typed it out if you can’t read from the scan.
---------------------
[letter]
Richard Grable, ESQ 9/20/90
Dear Richard –
Barely have time to get this to you. Tour is
going amazingly well – label sold out 1st
pressing of 2,500 in our 1st week on road – before
record even in stores. Record has now been in
stores 5 days and there is talk of a 3rd pressing.
Shows have been really crowded (1,000 people in
Hamburg) and enthusiastic. Label wants to do a
double CD of our last 2 records for next fall…
We’ve made no commitments to this yet.
Oh no, gotta go! I’ll call after Oct 18th-
Take care –
Debra

----------------------
Unfortunately only 6 songs on their final album. Another change up to the band is Heather Hardy on violin which I really increases the feeling of the songs. Also new members Mark Sloan on bass and Ben Orick on drums.

“Invisible People” just takes off where “Implosion” ended. Aids, Homeless, to Government Corruption is covered.
The first song “Never Again Again” talks about Aids telling us not to let history repeat itself. The song starts off w/ opening chords of “When Johnny Come Marching Home Again”
This song reminds me of the band Alley Cats (you may remember them on Urrgh! A Music War movie).

…now once again the fingers pointed
a segment condemned by those anointed
they lock the door of school and steeple
and teach the hate of these immoral people
but the plague raged on
words could not defeat it
for history not learned
we’re condemned to repeat it!

“Invisible People” is about the homeless we seem to ignore.

“I have seen the promise land
but it’s been promised to someone else…”

“No Deposit No Return” Stephan sings his version of the old children rhyme “Miss Mary Mack Mack”.

…Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
still dressed in black black black
because her man man man died
in a sneak attack attack attack
and all her kids kids kids
can’t play no more more more
‘cause they jumped double double dutch
on a claymore more more…

“The Limit of The Limitless” is my favorite song on this album. Just a very fast pace track w/ a lot of attitude.

Stephan Ielpi – vocals, Debra Adele - Electric and Slide Guitar, backing vocals, Heather Hardy - violin and keyboards, backing vocals, Mark Sloan– bass, Ben Orick– drums.

Guest vocals on "Plenty of Death For All" Sophia Ramos

BLIND ROACHES AND FAT VULTURES: PHANTASMAGORICAL
BEASTS OF THE REAGAN ERA

Consist of the two 7"s, their first LP, single from a compilation and 4 unreleased tracks.
“Banana Split Republic” comes from a compilation album titled “P.E.A.C.E.” in ’84. The unreleased tracks are “Decade of Decay” which is much faster beat than the one on the “Implosion” lp. “Creatures of The Woodwork”, “Premeditated Suicide”, “Pounding Raw Burgers” and my favorite “Dear Mom I’m Dead”.

The good thing about this CD is they have the lyrics and a little history behind each song noted by Steve Wishnia, original False Prophet bass player from 1980-85.
Vocalist Stephan Ielpi also includes a back page liner notes.

Stephan Ielpi – vocals, Steve Wishnia – bass, Peter Campbell– guitar

Ned Brewster – drums (tracks 6-16, 21)
Matt Superty – drums (tracks 1-5, 19)
Donna Baril – drums (tracks 17-18, 20)

Guitarist Steven Taylor wrote a book available through amazon.com titled False Prophet: Fieldnotes from the Punk Underground that is about his experience w/ the band and the eventual break up.

False Prophets were so talented I could just image what songs they would have created from 9/11 to Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Not to mention the Bush terms in office. If you have the chance check them out on youtube.com.

I like to close this out w/ a letter from False Prophets, Steve Wishnia taken from alternativetentacles.com
http://www.alternativetentacles.com/bandinfo.php?band=falseprophets

False Prophets were formed in June 1980 by singer Stephan Ielpi, bassist Steve Wishnia, and guitarist Peter Campbell. Matt Superty, Stephan's cousin and scion of a long line of drummers, joined soon afterwards. We quickly made a name for ourselves with raw, danceable energy and Stephan's welcome-to-my-nightmare theatrics, playing gigs at Max's Kansas City and predawn sets at the A7 Club. Our first single, "Blind Obedience" b/w "Overkill" and "Royal Slime" came out in June 1981. Musically, we were part of punk-rock's second generation, which included the Undead, Heart Attack, Reagan Youth and DC transplants the Bad Brains in New York, and the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, D.O.A., and Minor Threat in the rest of the world. We also drew on British post-punk bands like Joy Division, Public Image and the Gang of Four; pre-punk rockers like the Kinks and Stones (Steve and Peter) and Alice Cooper and Mott the Hoople (Stephan); and rap, reggae, and funk, the sounds of the boom boxes on New York's streets.
So we never quite fit the hardcore stereotype, being too varied musically and not thuggish enough personally. "Good Clean Fun," our second single, released in 1982, was both our first hardcore-speed song and a criticism of mosh-pit violence. Matt quit soon after, replaced by the Undead's Patrick Blanck, Donna Baril, and Ned Brewster, who made his debut at an all-night anarchist ball on New Year's Eve, 1983. We recorded our first album the next summer, financed largely by Stephan's uncle hitting the triple at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens.
Alternative Tentacles put the album out in early 1986. By then Peter was gone, having quit after a Southern tour in the summer of 1985. The band toured heavily over the next two years with new guitarists George Tabb and Debra DeSalvo, recording the Implosion album in early 1987. It broke up during a disastrous West Coast tour that fall. Stephan and Debra then re-formed it with new musicians and kept it going for several more years, releasing one EP. (Steve and George went on to form Iron Prostate, while Ned eventually wound up in punk-blues stalwarts the Senders.)
Ronald Reagan was inaugurated a couple days before our first two-night stand at A7, ushering in a new era of greed, puritanism, and hate. We wanted to rage against all that, and did. We also wanted to write great songs, have fun, and get possessed and out of our heads playing rock'n'roll. Listen to Blind Roaches and Fat Vultures and see how we did.
-Steve Wishnia