Rick Bunce - Goosewind Interview
What did you do for fun growing up?
I grew up in 2 towns. Ages 3-8 I lived in a small town called Agoura. Agoura was just developing (It’s now called Agoura Hills). At the end of our street called Locust Ave, there were no houses; just endless oak trees, hills (sometimes we saw flocks of sheep on the distant hillside), streams, and. It was the perfect place to be a little kid. Everyone on our block knew each other and helped each other out with things. For example, when my dad built the back porch of our new house, the neighboring dads helped pour the concrete and set and level the posts. The only payment they probably required was a couple cold Burgies, or Olympia Golds. There was just a great mellow yet very active thing there. I was allowed to ride my big wheel (later my bike) past the last house and down ‘Dead Man’s Hill’ to the pond where we’d catch polliwogs, frogs, lizards, whatever. We had to be careful of rattlesnakes. Some of the older kids would catch rattlesnakes and some kept them in homemade cages in their garages. There was a treehouse built into a large oak tree at the bottom of ‘Dead Man’s Hill’ that all the neighborhood kids shared. Sometimes the bigger kids or bullying types would take control of the tree fort for themselves. Sometimes plans were made to retake the fort. I remember one such overthrow involved blue belly lizards. By the way, when my wife and I went there a few years ago to look at the old neighborhood, ‘Dead Man’s Hill’ was not nearly as steep nor intimidating as I thought it was as a kid. Brookside Elementary, was just a few blocks away and my brothers and I walked ourselves there every day. Behind Brookside there really was a brook. Sometimes we followed that creek the long way home around behind the developing neighborhood. When I was 8 we moved to Upland. Upland was also somewhat wild in the late 70’s.
There were lemon and orange groves to explore and ride bikes. Just 8 houses East and down the 1st alley was a vacant lot just big enough for baseball. There were plenty of kids in the neighborhood so we played almost every day. We called the sandlot ‘Sticker Stadium’, as our socks would be full of foxtails that had latched on to us as we played. My friend Terry lived next to Sticker Stadium. One day he brought his dad’s lawnmower out to try to carve out an infield among the weeds and rocks. We had to take cover as the whirring blades threw rocks in every direction (we all thought that was hilarious). We were relieved that none of the rocks went through any windows of Mr. Whitmore’s house. Mr. Whitmore owned that vacant lot and he was nice enough to let us play there. He even let us skate on his huge driveway that had an island of junipers in the middle, making it the perfect oval for Roller Derby. We added water guns and window cleaner sprayers (filled with water, mostly) that we would spray others’ eyes during chaotic matches. I lived on my roller skates. My dog Rocky was a big strong wolf/Samoyed mix who loved to pull me, fast, down the endless sidewalks around Buffington Street. Back to Sticker Stadium: After a good rain we would have dirt clod fights. If you pulled up a handful of weeds, some dirt and mud would come up attached to the roots, which we would chuck at each other over dirt and rock barricades. We used metal trashcan lids as shields during close range combat. We also built bike jumps there. Sometimes the older kids would tear through on their motorcycles and jump. That was thrilling. No one wore helmets, but I sure wore many holes through my jeans.
When did you first begin to fall in love with music?
I think I fell in love with music the day I was born. Music was always around. There was a piano in the house. My Dad improvised classical pieces (that’s my Dad playing piano through my distortion pedal on the Goosegg 7”). My mom played some acoustic guitar and piano and sang in church choir. My uncle (my mom’s way younger brother) was/is a professional musician and voice actor. Occasionally Grandpa played Woody Guthrie/Pete Seeger type folk songs for my brothers and me on acoustic guitar. My cousin played trumpet in a jazz combo. Obviously, music was a big part of my childhood. When my uncle gave Mom a demo 7” he cut for Arista; I was well aware from a quite early age that music could be a part of my life forever if I played my cards right. ‘Angel 49 by Rusty Buchanan is awesome and I still listen to it and know all the words verbatim. We had an old console turntable, the huge piece of furniture type. I listened mostly to the Monkees in my very early years, and watched the Monkees TV show. That was my first favorite band. My parents got us a fully functional toy drum set for Christmas one year. I started learning the basics of how to keep the beat (sort of) to my parents Monkees records. My folks listened mostly to stuff like Stevie Wonder, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, That kind of thing. I’m not sure why there were Monkees records in there too, maybe they were there for me to discover?
...more specifically, when did you fall in love with the guitar and songwriting?
At age 15 Mom gave me her Spanish classical guitar, and my Grandpa gave me a Pete Seeger songbook with basic guitar chord charts. I quit playing organized baseball at age 16 (my absolute passion before guitar was pitching). Once I started playing guitar, I knew I would never stop. That guitar had a certain lovely warm wood smell at times, especially when I broke through learning a challenging section of a Led Zeppelin, or Pink Floyd song. I gradually learned to play songs by playing a section on my turntable, again and again until my version sounded reasonable. Around age 17 I became obsessed with Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd and began attempting to write my own whimsical numbers. My first such composition was called “Jeff the Caterpillar.” It was sometime around then I discovered my Walkman type headphones could work as a microphone if I put the plug into the 1/8” mic input of my Panasonic stereo. I detached the little headphone speaker and taped it onto my acoustic guitar. It worked as a very crude pickup. It fed back a lot yes, but it worked! That sound of my muffled ‘electric acoustic’ sent me head over heels in love with experimenting with sound. I remember going to my brother’s baseball game later that day. All I could think about was that sound. I could not wait to get back to my room to experiment some more. I knew I had to get an electric guitar, and very soon.
Tell me more about growing up in Upland, CA.
Back to baseball. Ages 9-15 I was completely obsessed with baseball. I loved my LA Dodgers (still do!) with that forever-famous infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey. I knew the stats for not just my Dodgers. I knew most of the stars around the league as I studied every player’s baseball cards. Around the beginning of High School my best friend (also a very talented athlete) began turning into a ‘jock’. Now this is a very important distinction. I was an athlete. I honed my skills and took pride in getting better at things, but I just couldn’t make the transition to being a jock. It was disturbing to me that my best friend no longer wanted me around as I was not accepted by his new football player friends. I wasn’t a nerd either. I was in honors classes but I didn’t belong in that camp either. Some of my neighborhood friends got super into Dungeons and Dragons. I played along a bit but I just couldn’t commit to it. Instead of spending money on 16-sided dice metal wizard figures, I bought baseball cards and 45’s. I was alone for most of my early teen hours, which was fine with me. As soon as I got home I would go to my room and put on a record, then try to learn to play songs I thought I could manage on that old Spanish acoustic. No one else my age that I knew of was doing that, I mean playing an instrument obsessively every day. My uncle gave me words of encouragement when he’d come to visit for family holidays. I remember him grabbing my guitar and playing Over The Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin while his wife sat cross legged all groovin’ on his tones. I wanted to get that good and have a cool chick too. Over The Hills and Far Away was the first song I picked out for myself, followed by Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, then Iron Man by Black Sabbath.
Who were some of your influences in your formative years?
My parents are my biggest influence, and I am very glad because they are very kind and very fun. My grandparents. I was lucky enough to know all 4 of my grandparents. They are so unique, so warm and knowledgeable. I was especially close to my Grams. She was an artist. She encouraged me to see the world through different lenses. My brothers. We could make up games and songs in any situation. John plays keyboards and guitar, and has a voice. Craig is a rock solid drummer. Great brothers! The two of them were in ‘Jive’, an early Shrimper band. For a short time, the three of us formed a band called Lagerhead. The Mountain Goats and Ben Harper opened for us once at Munchies in Pomona. My cousins and aunts were/are a huge influence too. I look forward to having fun with them every summer during our trip north. My Uncle Rusty. I watched him perform with the band Player in 1979 on a show called Solid Gold. He appeared on TV many times. That one that really blew my mind. He headlined at the world famous Palomino in North Hollywood many times. He toured with many famous bands. Rusty was/is a big influence on me not just for music, but because he is fun and funny and speaks his mind unfiltered. His original songs are mostly country rock that utilize his great sense of humor. I feel like I have written like that at times as well (my song Post-War Grocery Store is like that). Rusty gave me words of encouragement in both good and tough times. He even handed down some musical equipment to me. I really got into The Cars, Blondie and Queen around ages 11-14. Family vacations were a great time to bond with music. All those miles driven just flew by as I listened to Blue Oyster Cult and The Scorpions on my portable cassette player. Also, My best friend Darren’s stepdad had some connection to the music business. He would bring home demo tapes; some of which Darren would play for me. I think I heard Cristina’s ‘Is that all There is?’, Missing Persons ‘Mental Hopscotch’ and the Plimsouls ‘Million Miles Away’ before just about anyone. Darren’s stepdad had a high-end kick ass sound system (I think it was a Kenwood), with a bass and drum sound that just blew me away. For a spell there, every Sunday evening Darren and I listened to the Dr. Demento show on KMET. I think I still draw on some of those novelty songs for humor and weirdness. Around age 17 I became obsessed with Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd (Roger Waters era too). I began attempting to write my own numbers.
When and where did you see your first concert and when did you realize you wanted to spend your time pursuing music?
My first real concert was Tears for Fears at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, CA in 1985. I remember something terrible called ‘wine coolers’ which we drank in the parking lot. Yuck. The band performed their hit ‘Shout’ for like a half an hour and got everyone (except me) to shout a-long. It sucked. I did like their album The Hurting, but they didn’t play much from that album, or maybe they did, I don’t remember. I think the answer you may be looking for is which early concert was amazing and life changing. That would be Swans at the Palace in 1989. I have never really had a ‘religious’ experience, but this was IT as far as I’m concerned. I had no idea who Swans were at the time (though I was already a fan of Sonic Youth). An art student named Piet who I palled around with at Occidental College informed me we were going to this FREE show. I later found out this was the ‘Burning World’ tour. There was Jarboe in a long lacey white gown on keyboard. Her eyes rolled up into whites when she sang and played. There was Michael Gira, shirtless and howling and hanging onto the mic stand as if he were going to fall into a pit of lava if he let go. There was Paul Westerberg looking just like a pirate of the Caribbean, as he scowled and scanned the audience in a menacing, measured gaze as he layered the guitars. The drums and bass proved primal and beastly yet SWANS harmonies were gorgeous! The sound was not only loud; it was thick. I felt like I was swimming in sound. I couldn’t believe the sensations I was feeling. I had similar experiences seeing The Butthole Surfers, Dinosaur Jr, and Pixies at the Palladium; the Meat Puppets at the Ventura Theatre; and Sonic Youth and Mudhoney at UC Irvine. Grant Hart and Mike Watt were ubiquitous and put on great shows too. These were all around 1988-1992. In fact, there were shows all the time for my friends and I who were into the SST bands and related stuff. I saw these artists having success doing it themselves in a way that seemed adventurous and uncompromising. Every time I talked to these traveling musicians, they were so kind and down to earth. There was no ‘rock star’ attitude among the lot of them that I met. These experiences made a big impression on me.
Can you tell me about writing and recording those early works such as “Manny Mota”, “Boogie Wonderland”, and “Cancerman”. What was the overall process to these albums and how did you approach the material?
Boogie Wonderland was supposed to be called Boogie Wonderlust. It was mostly Thomas, Paul and I; and a few other friends jamming in my room, or in Thomas’ garage with the 4-track. It has always been like that. I mean a revolving door of friends, traveling musicians, family, stopping by my room at the Buffington house in Upland to play music. Stuff I liked made it to tapes that I submitted to Dennis. Thomas and I did a couple weird covers of Blondie songs, my brother John and I covered The Rose by Bette Midler. Boogie Wonderlust, I think that’s the tape that had an original number called Fat Albert’s Marshland. My friend Heather talked on that one. Heather was/is my brother John’s best friend. I thought she sounded like Kim Gordon on that song. Manny Mota. That was a strange time. For a few months, I couldn’t talk to people at all. I hid out in my friend Pablo’s garage in Eagle Rock, CA. He had some vintage stereo equipment and I had my fender amp and guitar there. I got super baked, every day. I turned on every receiver, amp, and anything electric or electronic until this super deep drone hummed, to which I played guitar to reach the stratosphere. I recorded it all; that long ‘cauldron of sound’ untitled piece on Manny Mota I am specifically talking about here. Most of the other tracks on Manny I don’t remember much about. I do know I figured out how to use those machines just by trying them out. I mean I rarely recorded over anything in pursuit of a ‘better’ take. Paul from CHUCK was on that tape a lot too. Archivist and cool dude Scott Meade Jr. much later informed me that such a technique in called ‘musique concrete’. Machines have their own language. Tap into that and you can’t go wrong. When that tape came out Thomas was amused that I didn’t know ‘Mota’ means weed in Spanish. Manny Mota, could mean ‘much weed’. I actually named that tape after the great Dodger pinch hitter. What a lucky coincidence!
Cancerman was recorded on my Clarion 4 track in my boarding house room in a haunted old Victorian house in downtown Upland, just down the street from the public Library. Attached is a story about the first day I moved into that house: My first day at 206 “D” st. in Upland, CA is something I will never forget. It was early October in 1993 and I found a room for rent here for $225/month. I had just moved all of my belongings by bicycle from another boarding house in Upland that had recently closed down. The house I had just moved from was a large Colonial on Arrow Hwy between Mountain and Benson Aves. It took about 4, 3 mile round trips to move everything. Moving with only a bike is an interesting balancing act. Among the heavier items I transported were my 4 track recording machine, my boom box, and my 1950 Royal typewriter. My room in this 6 bedroom, (estimating) turn of the century, Victorian. My room was on the second floor on the southwest side. I counted 13 steps every time I ascended the stairs that first headed up southward, then the intricate white painted wood bannister made a sharp U turn up a few more steps northward into a hallway where my room was the 1st on the left. The room had high ceilings and 2 beautiful bay windows, one on the south side, one on the west side. There had once been a door connecting my room to the room next to it on the north side of the house, this door was now sealed up. I had bought a large swath of burgundy colored velvety fabric that I used to cover the bare south facing window. There were blinds on the other window. I was exhausted from the move. I happily flopped on the futon bed which came with the room (thank all I didn’t have to move that by bike). The futon was in the southeast corner of the room, just a few feet from the hallway door. I noticed the only other provided piece of furniture was a sturdy looking, dark colored, wooden, six drawer dresser pushed up against the west wall between the bay window and the sealed connecting door. I lay on my right side and got under the comforter that my friend Minju had recently given to me. I closed my eyes and was soon asleep. I opened my eyes a little while later to my empty room. The old dresser was there, the room looked exactly the same. From my peripheral vision I could see the gentle flapping of my makeshift burgundy curtain as a gentle breeze came through the wide open window.
I tried to move. I couldn’t, I was paralyzed. As I wondered what was going on with me the door to the hallway burst open and in came a group of about 6 people, all female. They wore white cocktail dresses that looked very much like what you might see in movies depicting attire from the late 20’s, or early 30’s. One healthily round woman with the dark brunette hair in the “bobbed” flapper style stood in the center of the room. She made “cheers” gestures to the ladies surrounding her. She held a fancy looking glass filled with reddish pink liquor. They all had drinks in hand of the same look. She was laughing and smiling, she looked to be in her late 40’s, or early 50’s. The other ladies were younger, in their 20’s, or 30’s. All were laughing and talking and having a good time. I tried to speak. I couldn’t. The words I tried to make sounded like a slowly deflating balloon that was rattling around inside my head. My guttural attempts at speech were barely audible to me and definitely not heard by my suddenly appearing visitors. The sealed door in the northwest corner I had noticed earlier was not sealed very well apparently, as a short, bald man came easily through from the room next door where I could briefly hear the goings on of more revelers there before the connecting door closed shut to block the neighboring noise. The man who had just entered was very animated. He was bald and short with rather bulgy eyes and almost no neck. His large oval head seemed to be welded firmly to his shoulders. When he moved around the ladies, he pivoted his entire body as if he were unable to move his neck freely. He wore a formal dinner jacket, black pants and brightly polished black shoes. The “leading Lady” was very happy to see him. He bowed to her briefly then did a brief dance for her in which he spun slowly around with arms outstretched and his left leg out slightly as he pivoted on his right foot. The ladies shrieked with delight. As he began his second turn he surveyed the room and he stopped when he saw me. He walked directly over to me and looked down. As he paused I again tried to move and speak, but could do neither. He then turned around and lowered himself to sit full weight on the side of my head.
My head pushed down with his weight into the luckily soft futon mattress. It did not hurt physically but I wished this part of this experience would end soon. He soon popped back up to his feet, turned, pointed his finger in my face and laughed at me with a haughty chuckle. The ladies screeched with delight as the neckless bald man left my room through the hallway door, the black tails of his dinner jacket billowed slightly as they followed him out. The leading lady took her cue from him, as apparently she could now also see me. She came over to me as I again tried to wriggle free of the spell I was under, but I could not move nor speak coherently though I did manage to gurgle ‘nnnnooooo’ as she sat her ample butt on the side of my head. I could feel her weight, and the pattern of her white lacey dress against the side of my face. We were cheek to cheek very briefly as she bounced back to her feet. She pointed at me and laughed in the same manner that the bulgy eyed jester did a few moments before. Puzzled and slightly panicked by this recent humiliation I closed my eyes for a few moments. When I opened them my room was empty as the sound of the fading revelry echoed softly in the distance then faded out completely. I was slowly able to move and get up off the futon. There was no visible sign that my spectral visitors had been there. The hallway door was shut and the briefly freed connecting door looked to be sealed up again. As my speech soon returned to normal I probably said to myself, ‘welcome to 206 D st’. A short while after this experience I was told by my landlady that at one time this house had been a brothel when downtown Upland was sometimes a little layover stop for trains headed either east out of Los Angeles toward Las Vegas, or west toward Los Angeles. If this were a dream why couldn’t I move nor speak? I don’t know what it was, but it looked and felt real. This was the first of many strange experiences I had during the 6, or so months that I spent living here. I don’t know if you want to include that short story in this interview, suffice to say I think I opened my 4 track up to all kinds of ghostly stuff. I mean I do not really go around believing in a bunch of supernatural stuff, but there was no doubt about that place.
I’d like to jump ahead to your most recent works on Almost Halloween Time and Autumn Sounds. What was the overall process to these albums and how did you approach the material?
In 2009 my family moved to Venice beach, CA. I spent most of the late 90’s and early 2000’s living high in the San Bernardino mountains with my first love Amee where we raised our 2 beautiful daughters Maddelleine and Katarina. I thought my work had completely disappeared and I may have assumed I was totally forgotten by 2009. I ‘ego surfed’ my own work. I was astounded to find ALL of my released works archived on a site called Underwaternow/Almost Halloween Time. Not only were all my released works archived complete with full color photos of tape and album covers; many if not all the great Lo-fi DIY bands and labels were on there too. I was blown away that my music still existed somewhere in someone’s collection all the way in Italy! This archivist turned out to be Luigi Falagario of Almost Halloween Time Records. Aparently Luigi released a couple records a few years earlier, but hadn’t released anything in a while. I struck up an online conversation with him and asked if he would be interested in putting out my new stuff I was recording again at Dan Hill’s Squirrel Haven in Atascadero. Luigi released Redbook Creation on CD. Numerous cassette only small editions of many more of our albums followed. Melody and I were married last year in October (next week is our first anniversary). We honeymooned in Italy and hung out with Luigi and his beautiful family. That was so much fun. We made tacos (yes tacos haha) together and listened to music every night we were Bari. Luigi even let us borrow his car so Melody and I could explore the southernmost rural parts of Italy. Luigi is awesome. He hand paints every single tape, or album cover. He handed me four copies of our 2020 cassette album ‘Bats Over Boomtown’ (a kind of pandemic concept album).
Last year Luigi released a vinyl LP by my other band called Sssssss! That band is co-led by guitar shred master Richard (Rich) Jones, and features young genius Gerry Hernandez on drums. My daughter Maddelleine, my wife Melody perform some vocals. Jill Baron of electronic band AntiChrist Overdub was a founding member of SsssssS!, she contributed vocals to one song on this LP before leaving the project. I met Steven Troutman of Autumn Sounds at the first Tex Mess Junker in Houston in Fall of 2019. Steven hit the winning run with me pitching in the second game to tie the series at 1 game each. Doormat won game 1. Unread won game 2. More on that later. I gave Steven a tape copy of Bastard Squad/Arachnylvania double album. Side Bastard Squad (named for a fictional TV show beloved by the guys in BBC show ‘The Young Ones’) was the core punk rocking-est version of us with Thomas on bass, Ruben on drums, me on guitar, and we all sang. Side Bastard Squad was produced by Dan Hill at Squirrel Haven Studio in Atascadero, CA. Ron Yet formerly of Total Chaos engineered. It was probably the closest Goosewind had ever come to an actual studio produced, maybe Mid-Fi? Album. Side Arachnyvania was more our standard fare, recorded casually an evening at a time with the revolving door of core members (Ruben, Garrett, Amee, Melinda) and various visiting musician friends over a period of a couple years on my Tascam 244 8 track reel to reel that my awesome uncle Rusty gave me when he upgraded to Protools.
When and where did you play your very first gig as Goosewind and what was that experience like for you? Did you participate in any groups, or projects prior to this?
Well I know it was at Munchies in Pomona probably around late Autumn of 1991. It’s difficult to remember an exact first gig because we had a bunch of band names around that time. I guess the first definitive ‘Goosewind’ show was live on air at KSPC 88.7 in Claremont. ‘K-SPACE’ (as the station was known back then) my favorite DJ Erika graciously and professionally hosted us as Bill Chen wonderfully engineered the show. Things immediately got weird as Paul the bass player lit a white candle and claimed he was summoning the spirit of Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams) with our subsonic vibrations haha. His Fender bassman amp nearly caught fire when a vacuum tube glowed a supernaturally bright purple as we started playing. Thomas Spectre was there, along with his girlfriend Francine and Paul’s girlfriend Carrie. Fran and Carrie would sometimes play floor toms with Thomas. We mostly improvised everything we did back then. We usually ended up sounding like the stuff on the Boogie Wonderland tape. Somewhere I have a copy of that 1991 radio show, including wonderful Erika’s interview of us that followed. I have to dig that tape up. CHUCK was the name of the first and only ‘organized’ band I was in before GW. I was 18. I had just graduated from high school and my lovely and wonderfully talented mom got me the greatest graduation gift ever! It was a floor demo model of a Clarion 4 track. Since it was the floor demo and they were phasing this brand out, she got a great deal on it at Alta Loma music (where I also bought my first electric guitar and distortion pedal around the same time). At the time, I really didn’t know what a 4 track was.
It was cassette drive at 1&3/4 standard speed. I didn’t even read the users’ manual. I just bonded with that machine and figured it out like I knew I would. A couple guys who lived nearby started coming around. Those dudes were great. Brad was already an accomplished guitarist, he could play Van Halen’s Spanish Fly note perfect at age 16! Dude was/is a mutant. Paul was a Bob Dylan worshipper who played harmonica and wrote communistic protest songs. The first song we recorded and performed together was called “Christmas is a Crock of Shit”. Paul was so funny, he’d get all fired up about capitalism and war and stuff. I did not understand what he was so fired up about, it was just fun to be around these guys. Their friends were hilarious too. We played out in front of grocery stores near closing time, just unplugged the aqua vends or horsey rides and plugged in. We played these ‘guerilla gigs’ anywhere we could, including the Claremont Colleges where we occasionally found receptive audiences. Thomas Spectre would often drum for us back then. We soon found a drummer named Jeff who lived in the foothills. We started playing Upland parties a lot. Thomas Spectre of Bauhaus influenced band ‘The Skinny Bodies’ was 5th member of CHUCK. He filled in on drums (though he wasn’t a drummer) at guerilla gigs that actual gig drummers couldn’t play at. Thomas became my main songwriting partner from 1988-2010. Thomas introduced me to Garrett Dunn, the best drummer I have ever worked with. Garrett, Thomas, and I were probably the best ‘punk rock’, and ‘prankster rock’ version of the band.
How did you initially meet the Callaci brothers? What were those early days in the 90s like as someone that was born around that time?
Dennis and I were in the same biology class at Chaffey College in autumn of 1987. I knew him as THE guy who worked at Rhino records in Claremont where I picked up used records to build my classic rock collection. That dude just had the look of someone who was cookin’ up something super special. One day, pinned on the wall in the arcade hallway outside Rhino I saw an ad for a label called PSST (pre-Shrimper). I had never before seen a posting asking for music submissions. I knew right away somehow that Dennis was the guy that posted that flyer. I gave Dennis a 90-minute Maxell tape filled with my 4 track experiments recorded during and after the demise of CHUCK. That first tape is ‘Fip Placard’s’ only album ‘Skid Child’. Dennis released the whole thing, all 90 minutes. It is very rare, raw, and uncut and I think it was on the fall ’91 Shrimper mail order roster. Allen Callaci (singer for Refrigerator and The Bux) and I started going to shows together all the time around early ’92, or late ‘91. I’d call him, or he’d call me and we’d figure out where we had to be. It was usually Munchies, or the dA Gallery, or the Haven, or whatever loft party in downtown Pomona. It was just an amazing time of limitless creativity. Allen and I have recently picked up where we left off in 1993. We are playing shows together and going to shows again. Allen is also a huge Dodgers fan. Allen is a Prince of a man and one of my favorite people in the world. In fact, Allen introduced Melody and I to each other in ’91, or ’92.I think the best way I can describe the early 90’s (musically, that is) was a feeling that absolutely anything was possible. Paul and I found the LP “The Freed Man” by Sebadoh. We just couldn’t get enough of that album. These two dudes were obviously recording in a house, with their grandma and siblings audible in the background, on crappy tape recorders and got that stuff released on a vinyl record, man! I mean that’s pretty much what Paul and I were musically doing too, but Sebadoh got released on vinyl, man! We suddenly had hope that our folky rocky experiments might somehow see the light of day on vinyl as well. I think the epitome of that ‘anything’ is possible feeling was when Nirvana hit #1, unseating Michael Jackson. I know that moment has been referenced a million times. However, as someone who had just seen Nirvana live at the Palladium literally 2 weeks before that hit HIT, it was a really great time to be alive. It just gave me so much hope and excitement. I remember walking around at my job at Chaffey College. I was like, ‘man, I gotta travel’. And I did. I usually toured with girlfriends throughout the 90’s.
What have been some career highlights and moments/times that you cherish the most?
Deciding to drop out of college, and tour the country with Paul and Brad from CHUCK in 1990 was a good move for me. I wanted to discover what the world is like outside the ‘bubble’. I learned more than I ever expected was possible. Hearing my music on the radio for the first time when ‘Manny Mota’ first came out. I was thrilled, especially when Erika at KSPC said something about this song was going to get played a lot. Listening with Thomas as our ‘Ink’ single played on the radio. Touring cross-country to New Hampshire and back to California in 1999 was a highlight. We had almost no money to start with. We found gigs and punk rock crash houses along the way. We sold tapes and cds at indie record stores where we found them. In Oklahoma City, for example, the record store owner had just happened to see Thomas and I perform a few years previous as ‘Dave Purple and the Indicted Congressmen’ at the Impala Café (formerly the infamous Atomic Café) in LA. He called his friends and they came over and bought like $150 worth of our music. It’s amazing what a small world it is on tour. Another highlight of that tour was camping overnight at the H.P. Lovecraft family plot in Swan Point cemetery in Providence, RI. We had a barbecue and everything. When Amee and I left on that tour there were three of us including Maddelleine. When we got home we discovered there were four of us. Wonderful Katarina was on the way! Of all, I am most proud of my beautiful daughters. Finding, rescuing, and restoring my Tascam TSR-8 and M-216. I am so happy to be working with these ‘80s analog machines. I love the warm sound they preserve. Last year Melody and I interviewed on Mike Watt’s Podcast ‘The Watt From Pedro Show’ concurrent with the release of our first cassette out on Shrimper in 30 years. Watt played several tracks from our ‘Grateful for the Times We Share’ cassette album. It was thrilling to hear our songs on playlist with John Coltrane, Stooges, and the like. Watt plays an eclectic mix for sure. Check it out.
What keeps you creative and disciplined in your craft after all these years?
I am 54. I am unlikely to change. I do not know any other way. Music recording and writing is my regular “therapy” if you will. Most weekdays I work a very intense full-time job running a housing program in Long Beach. When I go home to San Pedro, I go miles and miles away. I rarely set out with any intention to ‘write a song’. I smoke a bowl. I drink a beer, and I watch TV. TV is great. TV is my 3rd parent and reliable friend; Always has been. I learned I like brunettes from TV (cat-woman, batgirl and the green dancing lady on Star Trek taught me much). I was a latch key kid, oldest sibling. Hours and hours I spent by myself. I watch TV and I play guitar. When I play something I like I play it again and again. When I play it so many times I remember it many days in a row, I record it on my Tascam. Lyrics and vocals almost always come to me last, unless I think of them first. This might not sound very disciplined haha; for me it is. I have two footlockers full of tapes. There’s probably a thousand songs in there. I always love reading H.P. Lovecraft. I find it astounding that when he was alive, he could barely get published. Now that he’s been dead for nearing a hundred years, he’s a gen X household name. I think that’s really cool. H.P. Lovecraft wrote for the love of writing. I think I do the same with recording experimental music.
As summer draws to an end and fall begins, what else does the rest of 2023 look like for you? Any shows/tours/projects in the works? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
The weather is now much cooler. The waves are getting better. I love to bodyboard (I love the boogie!). Melody and I have a garden. It is beautiful and so much fun. We have to choose what we will plant for fall. In terms of touring, melody and my long term goal is to buy get an RV and tour for the rest of our lives. Well we will probably keep our San Pedro apartment too, to rest between tours. I love travelling with Melody. She is so fun and smart. Melody and I just went to Houston in September for ‘Tex Mess Junker 2’ music showcase and whiffle baseball tournament organized by Caleb Fraid. Caleb and I formed a friendship while talking mostly about baseball. He is as big an Astro fan as I am Dodgers. It was a blast, but the other whiffle ball team did not show up this year! Right now we, (Team Doormat managed by Caleb) are tied 1-1 in a best 2 out of 3 game series with Team Unread (managed by the also wonderful and talented Christopher Fischer). The first such event was in 2019. There has to be a third, but hopefully not in the dead heat of summer. At the Houston Junker a few weeks ago, the venue was like 115 degrees at least! Caleb and Allen Callaci played a set of Carpenters covers. I joined in on the last song “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”. It was great. Goosewind then played a set. Caleb joined us on a couple numbers, then Gulf Fangs played a set in which I joined them at some point, so it was a fun revolving door, a fun, melting, revolving door. [As I write this, it is 10/1/23 (Happy Rocktober!), so some of the events I’m about to mention may have come and gone by the time this interview comes out, but I still appreciate the chance to shout this fun stuff out]
...In fact, Goosewind and Allen Callaci play again with Caleb Fraid and his band Gulf Fangs, this time THEY are headed out west to chill with us in CA for a show Saturday Oct 7th at 7pm at High Point Brewery in San Dimas. Gulf Fangs and Goosewind are also playing at Steady Beat Records in San Pedro Sunday October 8th at 3pm. A Goosewind/SsssssS! Hybrid is teaming up with Marcelo Morga at Studio 50 in Highland Park, CA Friday the 13th of October where we are playing John Carpenter (Halloween-ish soundtrack covers), mixed with Joy Division and Siouxsie numbers, and of course some original improv. Right now Melody and I, and the current Goosewind Crew are wrapping up our newest album with the working title ‘The Miracle of Tape’. I am working again with the very wonderful producer/engineer Jen Preciado at Electric House Studios in Whittier. Jen and I have worked together on our last 6 releases. We have a cool thing going; I record basic instrumental tracks on my 80’s Tascam TRS 8 reel to reel, to her Protools, and overdub vocals on her digital format. We then send it to the resplendent Cee Worth for mastering. I’m not sure yet what label, or format this will come out on (I’m currently talking with Dennis, and I hope that works out). However it comes out; it’s going to turn the world on to LoFi, MidFi, sometimes even the dreaded HiFi DIY! Advice for young sound experimenters: Believe in your love for your work. It will take you places. Beware ‘Big Fish Small Pond’ mentality. Travel, humble yourself, and learn from mistakes. Capitalize on opportunities when they present! Do not assume opps will happen again because often they will not. Make sure the bandmates you align yourself with share your ambition. I hope you go far.
