Author: Brian

PAUL STEFANO – PART 1

| Brian

Going thru the mountains of photos that I have accumulated over the years it became apparent to me that they all seemed to have an understandable, if not completely obvious, box in which to fit. In other words, I could easily define them. These photos were of this band and this band’s significance in my life was “x”. Or, these other photos were of this location and this location played a significant role in my life because of “y”. Yet, looking these categories and boxes of images and memories over, there was one figure that seemed not to fit in any particular role or box but was important none the less. Perhaps I was looking for too much simplicity in my organization or perhaps I was just trying too hard but honestly, Paul Stefano seems to need his own category.

I think every group of friends has a Paul or at least, I hope they do. The person within the group who truly was unique thanks in part to that person not being able to be the person they truly wanted to be.

Let me explain.

I don’t recall meeting Paul. Perhaps it was at one of Atom’s D.A.R.E. events hosted by his mother, but from the very beginning, Paul was always in our group of friends. He was there for elementary school thru high school. He was there in cub scouts and boy scouts, and there for every stupid inane event in-between. Yet, Paul was never completely absorbed by our group of friends and our interests. Paul was never officially in one of the numerous bands our group of friends launched (besides a short lived stint in our ska band, French Toast) because ultimately, I don’t think Paul really liked the music we were all into. Sure, he liked Fugazi or a couple other bands but Paul was far from being into punk music. He came from a musical background (his father taught many of us how to play and ultimately hate numerous woodwind instruments) and Paul always supported us by being at our shows. But Paul liked sports. He didn’t dress the way we thought a punk kid should so he was always the awkward guy with the sharp witted comment ready to poke fun. Everyone loved him but something seemed different.

When we went off to college, Paul and I roomed for the first year. During that time, Paul made a lot of new friends. He assimilated into the environment much more easily than I ever did. He joined a Fraternity and became more popular than he had ever been in High School hanging around us losers all the time. It was almost as if, finally, Paul was given a fresh start and was allowed to be his own person and he seemed to thrive in it.
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Looking back, I wonder if given the opportunity, Paul might not have chosen a different social group when he was younger? Would he have enjoyed going to parties or going on dates rather than sitting at the local taco bell listening to Bad Religion cassettes? Would he have enjoyed being more popular in general? Of all my closest friends from that time in my life, Paul is the one person I have the least amount of contact with and that’s a shame.

And thus, Paul Stefano deserves his own category because I believe any one of us who knew him will have our own recollections and definitions of him as a person. I’ve asked folks to give me some of their thoughts on Paul and I will be posting them here in the coming days. However, as I do, be sure to remember your own very special Paul (whomever he or she was). They were pretty great people.

A POST HARDCORE BAND FROM PHILLY CALLED FRANKLIN

| Brian

Is it really possible that I am already becoming forgetful on this blog? I mean, sure, it’s been over a year since I started posting stuff here, but looking in the “draft” file today, I found this. Apparently I meant to post it a while back yet, forgot to…duh. So, let’s get over on it…

Roy sent me a link to this article the other day. It originally appeared on the blog Assblasters.org (fantastic name by the way!) back in 2009 and I wanted to share it here on this blog as well.

The Internet search plight of Franklin is simple. The band known as Franklin, a post-hardcore act from Philadelphia, existed way before Google, forming in the mid ā€™90s and calling it quits before the dawn of the new millennium. The sound they crafted burned its way into the hearts of some that still might wanna listen, but if you Google the words ā€œFranklinā€ and ā€œPhiladelphia,ā€ or ā€œFranklinā€ and ā€œMusic,ā€ itā€™s next to impossible to find any links to the band. Youā€™ll find plenty of links to the more well known Franklin named Ben in the Philadelphia area along with the more well know Franklin named Aretha, but nothing about the mid ā€™90s post-hardcore band that produced a handful of singles and two full-length albums. And thatā€™s why Iā€™m writing this.

Franklinā€™s 1999 self-titled album, on the now-defunct Tree Records, was at least ten years ahead of its time, combining experimental elements of dub and reggae into its brand of DC post-hardcore. It was rhythmic, technical, loud and daring at a time when every other band in the world wanted to cry about ex-girlfriends and lost childhoods. And when the label died, the album went out of print. So Iā€™m doing something I donā€™t normally do. Iā€™m sharing it online. Not in the hopes of ripping off a defunct label or a defunct band, but to share an album that I believe is truly groundbreaking. That is if you can somehow find your way to this entry in a Google search.

The problem becomes more frustrating when one cialis levitra online cannot avoid taking these drugs. So now you don’t cialis tadalafil uk have to worry about the effect of the medicine. The bottom dollar isn’t india cialis http://www.heritageihc.com/articles/23/ just how little money you can spend, it’s how much you can earn. The kamagra oral jelly has been cheap sildenafil prescribed by many physicians and online drug dealers as well as by the users as the weekender solution. As a live band, I donā€™t remember much about Franklin. I saw them a few times in basements, but was probably too worried about what other people thought about me to truly enjoy the music. I think some of the members of the band (which consisted of members Ralph Darden, Brian Sokel, Greg Giuliano and Joshua Mills) also helped out Atom and His Package from time to time. And I know that members of Franklin later went on to play in Chicago via Philly band The Jai-Alai-Savant, and that Darden also DJā€™s under the moniker DJ Major Taylor (a nod to the song of the same name from Franklin I assumeā€¦) But for a brief time in Philadelphia in the mid to late ā€™90s, the band known as Franklin produced a groundbreaking body of work. Something that sounds as fresh and exciting today as it did ten years ago.

So what did we learn today? If you plan to form a band thatā€™s going to release some obscure genre-breaking music in your short career, make sure to name your band something thatā€™s easy to find on the Internet. Even the Ralph Darden Experience wouldā€™ve been easier to find in todayā€™s big world of the Internet. I canā€™t blame Franklin though. They were around before Google, and if thereā€™s any justice in the world, their music will be around to see its end.

Download the S/T album here.

Sorry for the delay folks but, you know, I’m getting old.

RALPH UP CLOSE

| Brian


I stumbled across this photo of Franklin playing quite randomly. A fella by the name of Bryan Sargent (why does that name sound familiar?) has a flickr page with thousands of photos. Towards the end, there’s a whole slew of interesting shots taken in Philadelphia of several bands including The Smash Everyone Jazz Quartet, Spirit Assembly and several others…

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No details available about this picture but it sure is Ralph up close and personal.

The Science Of… – 7/12/99

| Brian

Sometimes, you can ask a friend to do a thing and nothing under the sun will get that friend to do that thing. Of course, that’s not saying he’s a bad friend, it’s just stating a fact.

For example, The Science Of…

Mike passed me a plastic bag of cassette tapes he unearthed many months ago and in it, I discovered this wonder. I had asked Mike to give me a few thoughts about the The Science Of… as I prepared for this post. He agreed. But it’s been some time now and dammit, I’m getting impatient. Thus, I thought by posting this article, it might urge him to quicken the pace!

But, until then, all I can offer are my very brief two cents. The Science Of… featured Mike Parsell on the drums, Eric Wareheim on the electric piano, Carly Van Anglen on the bass and Dave Moylan on the guitar. They started in the late 90’s but I don’t know the how or the why. Eric, Dave and Mike had played together many, many times in many, many incarnations like I Am Heaven for instance, but I dunno how this got going. An instrumental group, they brought Carly in thanks to her totally amazing bass talents. I had the pleasure of playing with Carly in Astir-Few and know of what I speak.

The Science Of… would never officially release anything, but they did some touring and they would slowly evolve into a band called Sola in the coming years. This demo, however, definitely shows their wickedness with a funky ruckus.

Mike, your TURN!

Editor’s note – 7:54PM: Mike came through and sent the following!

Ok, fine. Here it goes.

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I kept telling Eric and Dave, “I know this girl Carly who fucking rips on bass.” You see, I had seen her with the band Astir-Few. It was around this time that I went to the Pennsauken Mart and bought a bubbler and a cozy (ed. note – Look it up. “nuff said.).

Eric tied a fireplace lighter to the ceiling of my living room on a string that was just long enough to reach all sitting stations in the room. We smoked a lot of bubbler and listened to a lot of Can, and the album Moon Safari by Air. We realized that a funky bass line and a Fender Rhodes with some reverb was a fucking sexy-ass combo. The bubbler was right about that. Then we started to jam it out with Carly. Dave and Eric were blown away by Carly’s ability to shred everything in sight and the band was born.

We had so much fun being in this band together. All the songs were formed by hours and hours of jam sessions where we would all get in the zone. Later we added Greg Giuliano on percussion, which was sick, a highlight for me was a song called “double drums song”. We did a bunch of Philly shows, a small tour, recorded a demo, and that was it.

And that’s that!

Demo 1

Demo 2

Demo 3

Demo 4

VILE

| Brian

As I’ve said in numerous posts, I do so enjoy the submissions of other people to this blog. A different perspective is always appreciated. However, thanks to busy schedules it can be a while before anyone has a chance to contribute. Such is life. Surprisingly, Jeff Vaders popped up again the other day and sent in some very, very old gems from his very first band, Vile. Starring folks who would go on to be in Up In Arms, then Fracture and Public Descent and beyond, this is a very worthy contribution. Thanks Jeff!

Vile was born into existence when Jeb Bell and I became friends in middle school. Through the combination of Thrasher Magazine, skate videos and watching our friends AK-47 / The Tazmanians play, Jeb & I mustered up the courage to create our own band. After several terrible name nominations, one being Auto Erotica, we democratically decided upon Vile. And that is how our first band came to be; create the band name first, then get the instruments and people.

Jeb had recently purchased an Ibanez electric guitar and Peavy amplifier and was learning tunes from our favorite bands. Rob Bell was already a formidable drum master and had an extensive setup in his parents basement. We recruited our friend Dan Goldberg to play guitar as his chops in 8th grade wowed all of us. Finally, I purchased a microphone and yes, Peavy amplifier as our solution to a PA system and the band was officially formed.

We practiced in The Bellā€™s basement and my parents garage nonstop. We dedicated hours upon hours on both weekdays and weekends to practicing our favorite punk rock songs. Dan Goldberg was lucky enough to have a reel-to-reel recorder that we used at many of our practices to re-listen and perfect our sound. Like all bands, after a couple weeks we began writing our own songs. Below is a sampling of these prolific tunes that sadly up till now did not get further than a few peopleā€™s ears. Sadly, I do not have photo evidence of Vile and its 4 month existence. The original songs below were recorded in the summer of 1989 in my parents garage. Only a few tunes recorded on reel to reel in my parents garage in the summer of 1989. I donā€™t know which is funnier, the teenage suburban angst etched into each tune or our unique egalitarian approach to counting down the songs. Enjoy.

3RD WORLD WAR – In the midst of the Cold War, would a punk rock band from suburban Philadelphia would not be complete without a Cold War protest song.

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EVEN THEM OUT – Written right after Down To The Ground, another Bell/Vaders collaboration. Possibly the greatest lyrical writing ever, ā€œa shot in the knee, a shot in the heel, even them out, give them something to feelā€. This song is a gem and I am surprised it was never covered by anyone else.

PMRC – Penned by Dan Goldberg, this song was to change Vileā€™s direction from songs about burning and killing to something more intelligent.

SUBURBAN POLICE – If memory serves me correctly, this may have been the first real group collaboration. Music by Bell/Vaders, lyrics by Dan Goldberg. Our protest song against the local cops.

Sick.