Philadelphia Bands

i always think of that sharpling and wurster sketch with philly boy roy where he names off about 800 philly bands.

- bring your guitars with you whereever you're crashing
- make one bandmate sleep in the van [extra blankets in the winter!]

Hello. As many of you have already heard, our van, the van we bought two days before we left for tour, was stolen with all our equipment in Philadelphia. Our van was parked in a 24-hour attended secured lot with bright lighting and a club on the steering wheel. Even though we did everything we could to keep this van safe and secured, the thieves sawed through the club, hotwired the van and drove it through the parking lot checkout fence. Pretty unbelievable. Unfortunately our van insurance does not cover theft and while some of our insurance might cover some of the gear, it will most likely be minimal.

Thanks so much to all the support we've been getting from our fans. Emails, myspace posts and articles, it's wonderful to feel like we're not alone in this. Also, because we'll be the ones getting hit with these costs we've set up a PayPal account for donations. If you are able to donate anything at all, we'd be extremely appreciative. Everything and anything at this point helps. Please head over to our website http://www.filmschoolmusic.com to make a donation.

Here are the dates we'll still be able to play:

3/10: Massachusetts, Welleseley College w/ Cloud Room
3/11: New York, Mercury Lounge w/ Cloud Room
3/12: New York, Mercury Lounge (second show added!)
3/14: Memphis, Hi Tone w/ Cloud Room
3/16: Austin, SXSW Beggars Banquet showcase at Club Deville (6th & Red River), 9pm
3/17: Austin, SXSW Jane magazine party at Beauty Bar (7th & Red River), time TBA w/Nada Surf, Mates of State, Of Montreal, Film School, The M's, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Tiny Steps
3/18: Austin, SXSW Hi Dive party at Gallery Lombardi (910 3rd at N.Lamar), 3:45pm w/Dressy Bessy, the M's, Ester Drang, Paul Jenkins (of Black Heart Procession), Bright Channel and more
3/31: San Francisco, Noise Pop Festival at Slim's
4/1: Los Angeles, The Troubadour w/Cloud Room

Again, thanks for your support and we hope to see you at the shows.

Hi. Sorry for the multiple bulletins, but I wanted to let everyone know the Philadelphia PD just located our van. YESSSSS! They couldn't tell us anything about the condition other than that "it looks fine". Unfortunately, none of our gear was still inside. NOOOO!

For those of you in the Philadelphia/Trenton area please keep spreading the word about our gear. If anybody needs pictures of our guitars, amps, serial numbers, etc. please get in touch. Here's the list of what's missing again:

Amps:

Fender Deville guitar amp
1970's Fender Twin Reverb silverface, master volume
1970's Ampeg SVT Bass amplifier head
Ampeg SVT 410HLF cabinet

Guitars:

1993 Gibson SG guitar black
1973 Fender Telecaster Deluxe w/humbuckers white w/marble pickguard
1976 Fender Precision Bass Serial ..629010 no finish/natural

Effects Pedals:

2 Line 6 Delay DL-4 pedals
Electro-Harmonix Memory Man Deluxe pedal
MXR Distortion pedal
Cry Baby Wah-wah pedal
2 Boss GE-7 Equalizer pedal
1 Boss TU-2 tuner pedal
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzz pedal
Boss TU-12 tuner
Pro-Co Rat distortion pedal
SansAmp Bass DI box
Core One Pedal board
Pedal Pad pedal board

Keyboards:

Kurzweil K2VX keyboard w/sampling option
Boss SP-303 sampler w/power adapter
ART powermix 4 minimixer
Yamaha sustain pedal

Drums:

1966 Ludwig blue sparkle 13", 16", 22"
1964 Ludwig supralite snare 14"
14" Zildjan A series hi-hats
20" Zildjan A series crash
24" Paiste 2002 Dark ride
1 SKB 22" bass drum case
1 SKB 16" floor tom case
1 SKB 14" snare drum case
1 SKB 13" tom case
22" SKB cymbal case
2 Pearl stronglight stands
1 Pearl hi-hat stand
1 Pearl Bass drum pedal

Thanks again to everyone coming together to help us out like this. We really touched.

I'll post another update if/when we get any new info.

Apparently no one remembers King Carcass, but at least this guy does:
http://www.richius.com/mp3.html

skankin to the hit-hard
body in the pulse beat
quivered in the been told
i'm a broke lump o' meat
no this aint no mismatch
i ain't got no death wish
one thing bout this white trash
what i gots a thrash wish

Okay, can I finally throw this flyer out now and why have I kept it for so long (aside from the fact that I had a couple classes with the guy in the band who probably wrote those lines)?

http://uptownbones.com/

no one here mentioned Schooley D - tch tch.

Jesus, glad film school got their van back. looks like im not the only to get gear raped this year.

Schooly D! The Strapping Fieldhands! Mandrake Memorial!

-- scott seward (skotro...), April 22nd, 2004.

(i always forget that extra L)

?

film school
arab strap
rosie thomas
ambulette

http://www.youtube.com/user/AllroyPA#play/uploads/10/hIuRLiljFQc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2b7utZwzhw

A bit better, I'd say:

http://www.youtube.com/user/dazeystarr#p/a/u/0/-EXorsrqyTk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EXorsrqyTk

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/music/The-Wawa-Jingle-Guy.html

FINALLY, Scram's anthemic "Here Tonite" is up. Love this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mRF3Kh_yko

My favorite local Philly band during the 80s, with Ruin as a close second.

And, also huge, "Stand Up":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvbgN_yjL6g

It's sad about Scram. They reinvented their sound as they went on, digging more deeply into African music, adding percussion, and drafting saxophonist Elliot Levin, but they didn't get much support.

And you can complain about the protest lyrics (though I find them pretty palatable here) but you cannot deny the "Here Tonite" hook.

Never saw this band live (probably would've been too scared?), but I liked some of their songs on the radio. the Sadistic Exploits:

http://freedomhasnobounds.com/?cat=30

(Actually I think they were from New Jersey, but close enough.)

Oh and he's got live footage of RUIN from the 80s:

http://freedomhasnobounds.com/?cat=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRvYu_DUrpQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiAJssHF6Bw

Thank you youtube, I'm not getting any laundry done.

This Baby Doll might be the best of the live videos I've checked out so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xah7WYiqJHU

Anyone heard of Alex G?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_G

Yeah! I saw him play at OK Fest this year, he is p amazing

There is so much amazing music in Philly right now (Pinkwash, Sheer Mag, Girlpool, Hop Along, Swearin', Waxahatchee, Cayetana, Amanda X, Chondria, +HIRS+, etc)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr2um9KXkgQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHh5FWxxSy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDprSv9DjxY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx3FcZmGyn8

The Goats were Philadelphia weren't they? & were actually a band when they played live at least.
I love Tricks of The Shade but not No Goats No Glory so much. They lost a central member between the 2 releases though I think. Have hoped that some live material by the band might appear somewhere but think I've only got one track possibly.

I know the Arkestra did spend some time in Philadelphia but can't think what era they were based there in. What Sun Ra lps does that relate to?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GLqs-fwDM4

Started a thread about this band, but I'm going to post it here too. These are reacreations, years later, by band member Todd Shuster, but I think the songs still come through. Late 70s Philadelphia punk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y88VGIIkTOA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bozfE4v5-MQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT5DQJiq35s

Sink Manhattan (mentioned upthread):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFdJeupPLlQ

Ghostwriters (who I mistakenly called Ghost Riders upthread):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh1t1he4IEY

no mention thus far of the great PURLING HISS? tsk tsk...

Lots of grist for my false nostalgia:

http://freedomhasnobounds.com/

Rudipherous, when were you in Philly?

As a child, something like 1973-1978. As an adult: 1989-2008

But also went to Temple 1983-1987, and worked and played there most of 1987-1989.

Rightly or wrongly, my paying attention to local rock (and related fringe things) was largely limited to the 80s.

lol i wonder if you're friends with any of my friends who were doing the whole lancaster ave punk squat thing in the 90s

I wasn't doing anything that interesting back then, although it's certainly possible that I might at least know someone who knows them. I smoked a joint at the Fake House once. That's about the closest I got to that scene.

I saw RUIN and Scram! much more often than any other local bands (not counting the Sun Ra Arkestra). Also, a lot of my experience of the bands from that era was via WXPN and WKDU (especially 78-83 before I started college).

(Or Relache, not that they were even a band of any sort.)

Relache! man, talk about nostalgia. ever go to a show at the funk dungeon? or hang out at the crass house at temple?

i think i moved there in 1988. just in time to see karen finley at the painted bride.

Nope to both of those. Was that a house occupied by Crass fans or something?