1977 - Joey and The Pork Chops

The band started to coalesce during sophomore year of high school for the Class of '79, using acoustic guitars, a borrowed amp, and occasionally Uncle Charlie's famous ashtray.

We are lucky to have a glimpse of those heady days -- a front-row seat at the creation -- thanks to the foresight of Heavy P, who always had his trusty cassette recorder handy when inspiration would strike. These studio sessions served to cement the band's identity and repertoire, much as the Beatles had honed their craft in sketchy German nightclubs a mere two decades earlier. From humble beginnings in Heavy P's basement there emerged a musical force destined to change the world forever.

The tapes reveal a creative clash of egos as the band experiments with form and function, searching for the right mix of intellectual audacity and animalistic drive to unleash their inner angst. We can hear snippets of free verse poetry and electronic feedback mixed in with interpretations of 60's pop standards, and even a Dada-inspired conceptual piece filled with sounds of belching and vomiting. Gradually the band reached a consensus that none of these branches would bear much commercial fruit; a new direction was needed, some kind of hook that would reach a wider audience -- and bring in more groupies.

1979 - Brain Damage

(to be continued...)