continuing on with comments and suggestions to help get the story straight...
Around this time, work was being done on material for a second album that was initially due for release at the end of 1983. This was to lead to great arguments about direction between Licher and Drucker. Licher retains copies of the master tapes of this material and still holds dreams of releasing the material the way he originally envisioned it. His bandmates would eventually released the material the way they saw it, in more acoustic form under the name 17 Pygmies, a split-off band centred around Robert Loveless and Phil Drucker.
Correction-- Bruce doesn't retain rights and ownership of the music as it was a collaborative effort amongst the members. He may have the tapes in his possession but he's not the sole owner. Whatsmore, if he would like to rerelease the album to his liking, there's nothing stopping him. The other members would be into it, so chances are that if such a dream existed, Bruce would "release the material as he envisioned it" because there's no barriers. As for the "other bandmates" "splintering off" and making the songs go their way-- that's really idiotic. Musicians can be in multiple bands on any given day and what occurs in one band's creative production is not going to marry into the next band's experiences-- that would be like saying that the blue and red colored artists in Band A who mix and make purple still continue to make purple when blue members go outside the studio to record with yellow colored artists in Band B. Nothing is the same. There are no carry-overs... and Paniolo, Captured In Ice, and Jedda By The Sea sound nothing like SR, and by the time I joined 17 Pygmies in 1985, we were nothing near SR.
This LP has remained difficult to get hold of for several years I thought this was due to legal considerations; Robert Loveless has told me that there was a limited reissue from Stray Dog records in Greece coupled with the Hatikvah EP sanctioned by Phil Drucker. I'll have to see about getting a copy since it's a record that I really would like to lay my hands on.
Try your luck with eBay. That's how I acquired my copies. And chances are that if Phil and I are into it down the road, we'll reissue from whatever tapes we have between us. That could be a long time a-coming because we're working on other projects.
Licher was to keep the Savage Republic name and reformed the band alongside Erskine with the intention of making soundtrack type music.
Bruce doesn't own the band name so how can he "keep it"? This really is funny!
Other people who appeared, included Brad Laner and Mike Fey (then in Debt of Nature).'
Brad Laner reappears in The SR story later, then left to form the more popular band Medicine who seem to share some of Savage Republic's influences, though they are far less tribal sounding.
I can assure you that Brad was well into establishing his own unique style YEARS before the Anti-Club days AND that in no way did his brushing with SR influence Medicine. If anything, it was STEAMING COILS and DEBT OF NATURE, not Savage Republic. Brad also lended a hand with 17 Pygmies but our collaboration in no way influenced his future work... and if there was any influence over Brad, it would have had to have been Karlheinze Stockhausen or Harry Partch, and I'm sorry that if such a venture was ever possible that SR didn't exploit the full opportunity because of all the members, Brad is the most skilled and dares to bend beyond the norm.
One thing that impresses me deeply about the LP's with the 2nd era line-up is the way that melody/impact and rhythm all seem to be held on the same level. Or at least until Erskine left and Laner took over when the drums seem to almost take dominance/lead role, remaining in constant change while the white 12 string Hagstrom known, as the Monotone, remains static. This Monotone is the instrument responsible for the more evocative eastern sounding elements of the sound. As noted earlier, Licher had developed the idea for this instrument early in the bands history around the same time that he caught Branca for the first time.
The drums probably seem to take dominance by the time Brad joined because he could at least play his instrument. As for the monotone guitars... as I recall, Phil instructed the band on how to string and tune their guitars, but back in the 80s, everyone was doing this-- there was Partch fever, so it wasn't unique of an idea... not even for Branca.
The Trudge E.P. is now coupled on a CD with the next LP Ceremonial. Robert Loveless had returned to the band in the interim and remained until 1986. The original version of the LP was somewhat marred by very flat singing. There was more disagreement about whether the band should be instrumental or vocal.
Well, this much is true and like the band's not taking full opportunity of Brad's contribution, the group got scared of having me on as a full fledged member because it didn't want a "girl singer" so it opted to let Loveless sing the other songs beyond Andelusia, but by then, Phil invited me into 17 Pygmies. If you ask me, Thom should have sung in place of Loveless because at least he could carry a tune and harmonize.
In the current instrumental version this seems to be the closest that Savage Republic come to Licher's current project Scenic even more so than Trudge does. The original cover shows the band hanging around in what looks like a disused quarry, this has been replaced on the CD reissue with a front cover photo of the bandless gorge and a backcover of the band walking towards the camera. Bruce: 'this was in the Orocopia Mountains just east of the little desert town of Mecca, California, near the Salton Sea southeast of Palm Springs. We went there for the name mostly. It was the location that Stuart Swezey, who promoted the Desolation Center desert shows that we were involved with, and I chose for the "Mojave Auszug" show with Einsturzende Neubauten, Mark Pauline and Djemaa-El-Fna. And it looked good.'
Yes, the creative idea for location and execution goes to the photographer and Stuart.
In 1986, Robert Loveless left the band again, as previously stated he was to return to playing with Licher several years later in Scenic.
He didn't leave, he was voted out like I was. There was an issue about the singing and entering keyboards into the mix of the sound, but that was good for 17 Pygmies because Phil and I, with Loveless went into the studio and recorded WELCOME, signing on with Island Records and bringing in a diverse group of musicians into the project, including Brad Laner and Morris Tepper.
Mark Erskine who had been undergoing some level of personal difficulties left the group to be replaced by Brad Laner.// Brad Laner had been one of L.A.'s most promising musicians for a while, at one time he was in 11different bands playing almost as many different instruments.
Well that's not exactly fair. Everyone has difficulties at some point or another in time but to call it the reason why Mark was moved out of the band is a little tacky. If anything, the band was having personal difficulties and problems communicating... so when the original members were gone, like Phil, Jeff and Mark, what became of Savage Republic, really?
Founding member Jackson Del Rey was to return before the recording of the new LP Jamahiriya, he would last as a member until the European tour supporting the LP was almost over.
Good thing Jackson left the tour because it probably spared him his life-- one drunk emotional bandmate flew into a fit and came after jackson with a heavy metal object to whail upon his head and if it hadn't have been for Brad Laner pulling off that drunk emotional member, Jackson would have been bludgeoned. So if you must know, Jackson didn't leave the way he "talked his way" into the group as you've so depicted-- he removed himself from crazy behavior because he didn't want to wind up dead or in the hospital. Would you work with such violent characters? But I suppose this much 411 is forgotten in the SR history, and to those who tale tales about rosier times without the full story, let me just say that Karma knows everything and doesn't cherry pick the past.
Jamahiriya has been a favorite LP of mine for a very long time. // The use of rhythm should've ensured its place in dancefloor success 'cos it surely do make me want to shake m'booty. This funkier influence is probably part and parcel of the Can influence.
The influence is probably more attributed to Brad's contribution than Can's.
As Bruce says above, Brad's drumming certainly adds something to the sound that wasn't there as noticeably before. Comparing the versions of tracks that appear on Live Trek, the Mark Erskine era live LP with the Live 88 Brad Laner-era LP, there seems to be a major dynamic shift. Erskine was a good solid drummer whose role seemed to be on equal footing with the rest of the instrumentation: Laner's drumming almost seems to take over as lead instrument.
And that's because Brad is a well skilled musician while Erskine and the rest of the bunch were painters and artists.
Brad had a strange drum setup consisting of what he described as 'broken cymbals, rack tom tuned high to sound like a conga, two floor toms' and employing 'lots of Chris cutler inspired "extended" drum ideas i.e., hitting the sides and shells of the drums, funny tunings in general.' At the time, that Brad was in the group he was hands down the best musician. Thom F goes as far as saying that he could outplay most of the other members on their own instruments. Brad went on to form Medicine, fronting them on guitar and had some degree of success with music that I used to think owed a heck of a lot of influence to the band that he passed through. I'm not sure if it wasn't a case of two-way influence. He certainly doesn't see the comparison himself.
Hold on, apparently you've missed out on one of the greatest LA bands of the 80s-- STEAMING COILS-- you need to go get some Breaded, Tarkington Table and Never Creek... get those records, interview Brad, David Chrisman, Spencer Savage, Joseph Hammer, Don Bolles, and then continue on with your thoughts... what you will find is that Brad has this weird talking in tongues sort of gift when it comes to playing instruments and making songs. However, just while he's genius like that, so are the other players in Steaming Coils, and these guys lived like a tribe for nearly a decade. If there is any influential cross over from Savage Republic to Medicine, it's Steaming Coils but with more amplitude and real instruments instead of toys (no put down, just stating the facts-- the band used actual toy instruments because it was what it could afford at the time, plus they were creative cats trying all kinds of medium, including crinkled paper or dry beans in a pie pan). So in defense of Medicine... let it be known that Medicine is its own unique creation and not a bleed over of passing through Savage Republic. Whew.
Ethan Port, Greg Grunke and Thom F stayed together once Bruce Licher had left, initially under the name Motormouth. This grouping has had several alternative names and line-ups since.
And that's probably because of the frying pan stint...
Phil Drucker moved onto 17 Pygmies with whom he made several records. He then returned to Savage Republic for their last 2 studio LP's and the Live 88 record. He is now a lawyer and not involved in music anymore (I think).
check cdbaby.com to buy or listen to Phil's "I Am The Light" recent release. He's been making music throughout his career as a lawyer and is currently in the studio with old friends.
Mark Erskine contributed bass and vocals to a wacky 7" by the Zimbo Chimps and added some guest vocals on the same band's later lineup Skinnerbox's debut LP from 1986. He then disappeared from the music scene but appears to be starting to play locally in the mid-West.
Mark, if you're reading this, email me, man! Would love to hear from you.
Jeff Long was playing bass with the U.S. hardcore band Wasted Youth throughout most of his time with Savage Republic. He quit them to return to playing fulltime with Savage Republic until April '83, he then retired from music and now teaches psychology.
I thought it was physics... but at any rate, Jeff, Ethan and Phil all have PhDs and they recently played in SanFrancisco's F Space under the name Savage Republic, PhD.. I'm going to fancy the boys to invite my husband, David, on board... he's also a PhD and former mate of Steaming Coils.
There is a Yahoo.groups chat-list dedicated to SR called Procession. Most of the members of the band appear there quite frequently. It has been a great help in my research for this article.
Maybe with these new notes you can fine tune your article and post it back into the Procession thread. Be seeing you there.
Louise
[ Edited by: louisebialik 2005-10-11 12:49 ]
